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This  book  must 
be  taken  from 
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Form  No.   471 


CHARLES  F.  COFFIN 

QUAKER  PIONEER 


Charles  F.  Coffin 


CHARLES  F.  COFFIN 

A  QUAKER  PIONEER 


Compiled  by  MARY  COFFIN  JOHNSON  and 
PERCIVAL  BROOKS  COFFIN 


Preceeded  by 

EARLIEST  HISTORICAL  PERIOD 
OF  THE  COFFIN  FAMILY 

By 
MARY  COFFIN  JOHNSON 


NICHOLSON  PRINTING  COMPANY 

RICHMOND.  INDIANA 
1923 


The  Compilers  of  this  Book  desire  to  express  their  thanks 

to  the  following  named  friends  who  by  their  kind 

helpfulness  have  made  possible  this  Volume: 

TIMOTHY  NICHOLSON  of  Richmond,  Indiana 

WILLIAM  HIATT  COFFIN  of  Pasadena,  California 

PROF.  HARLOW  LINDLEY  of  Richmond,  Indiana 

BENJAMIN  JOHNSON  of  Richmond,  Indiana 

HERMAN  NEWMAN  of  Chicago,  Illinois 
MARJORIE  HILL  ALLEE  of  Chicago,  Illinois 


To  our  Father's  life-long  friend, 

BENJAMIN  JOHNSON  of  Richmond,  Indiana, 

who,  through  weal  and  woe,  extended  to 

CHARLES  F.  COFFIN 

a  sympathetic  understanding  and  love 

which  were  a  materialization  of 

the  finest  of  all  that  is  ideal  in  friendship, 

this  book  is  respectfully  dedicated  by 

The  Children  of  Charles  F.  Coffin. 


CONTENTS 

PAGE 

Earliest  Historical  Period  of  the  Coffin  Family       3 

Charles  F.  Coffix — His  Churchly  Period 55 

Charles  F.  Coffin— His  Evangelical  Period 113 

Charles  F.  Coffin— His  Mystical  Period 183 

Supplement 

Friends  Reading  Circle,   1858   205 

Index  to  Speeches  and  Addresses— Earlham 

College   Library    208 

Index    to    Reminiscences — Earlham    College 

Library     , 210 

Index    to    Miscellaneous    Correspondence — 

Earlham  College  Library   212 

Index  to  Memoirs  of  Friends  and  Relatives 

— Earlham    College    Library 214 

Coffin  Family  Pedigree   215 


EARLIEST  HISTORICAL  PERIOD 


COFFIN 

The  Earliest  Historical  Period  of  the  Family 


By 
MARY  COFFIN  JOHNSON 


The  Coffins  are  of  Norman  French  descent. 
The  French  estate  is  at  Falaise  in  the  province  of 
old  Normandy  in  the  department  of  Calvados.  The 
EngUsh  estate  is  at  Portledge,  North  Devonshire, 
four  miles  from  the  old  town  of  Bideford. 

The  following  is  taken  from  the  journal  of  the 
late  Charles  F.  Coffin  of  Chicago,  lUinois: 

''By  kind  invitation  of  the  owner,  Monsieur  Le  Clere 
and  his  wife,  Madame  Le  Clere,  I  visited  in  the  year  1883, 
accompanied  by  my  wife,  the  ancient  Coffin  Chateau — 
Courtitout— near  Falaise.  Monsieur  Le  Clere  was  the 
grandson  of  the  last  Miss  Coffyn,  French  Normandy,  whose 
father  was  a  banker  in  Falaise.  She  married  in  1796  Mon- 
sieur Le  Clere,  Senior.  From  the  time  of  this  marriage, 
the  name  of  Le  Clere  has  succeeded  that  of  Coffyn  as  pos- 
sessors of  the  estate. 

We  traveled  by  railway  from  Paris  to  Argentan,  a 
journey  of  five  hours,  and  from  there  to  Falaise,  fifteen 
miles  by  carriage.  The  highways  on  the  route  were  fine 
and  the  verdant  hillsides  and  landscapes  beautiful.  We 
were  greatly  interested  as  we  passed  through  the  French 
agricultural  country,  in  the  gardens,  the  fields,  the  number 

3 


Coffin 

of  trees,  the  homes  of  the  peasants,  the  costumes  of  the 
rural  people,  and  the  strange,  picturesque  old  French  towns. 
The  farm  houses  were  of  stone,  substantially  built,  and 
mostly  two  stories  in  height. 

It  was  late  when  we  arrived  at  Falaise  and  we  went  to 
an  hotel  though  our  invitation  was  to  'come  directly  to 
Courtitout,*  which  is  situated  a  few  short  miles  from  the 
city.  This  venerable  hotel  was  one  thousand  years  old. 
The  ceilings,  walls  and  floors  were  all  of  stone. 

Early  next  morning  the  cards  of  Monsieur  and  Madame 
Le  Gere  were  sent  in.  We  had  just  finished  our  break- 
fast. We  were  taken  to  their  beautiful  home  in  an  elegant 
English  coach  with  liveried  attendants. 

At  Courtitout  we  were  most  cordially  and  hospitably  en- 
tertained by  Monsieur  Le  Clere  and  his  charming  wife. 

Monsieur  Le  Clere  was  a  man  of  fine  personality  about 
thirty  years  of  age.  His  wife  was  a  beautiful  woman  some- 
what younger.  They  had  three  bright  children  who  were 
under  the  care  and  tuition  of  an  English  governess.  It 
added  much  to  the  pleasure  of  our  visit  that  Madame  Le 
Clere  could  speak  English  readily.  They  had  invited  a 
brother-in-law  and  sister.  Monsieur  and  Madame  de  Fon- 
tenay,  who  lived  twenty  miles  away,  to  be  their  guests 
while  we  staid.  Madame  de  Fontenay  could  also  speak 
English.  We  were  constantly  occupied  giving  them  de- 
scriptions of  various  scenes  and  places  in  the  United  States. 
Conversation  never  flagged.  Sometimes  Monsieur  would 
almost  chide  his  wife  for  not  interpreting  more  frequently. 
They  had  never  visited  our  country  but  had  a  very  correct 
knowledge  of  it.  The  family  were  loyal  Roman  Catholics 
devoted  to  their  Christian  faith  as  were  all  of  the  earliest 
ancestral  Coffyns.  Here  and  there  in  the  annals  of  family 
history  distinguished  characters  are  recorded  who  were 
prominently  connected  with  the  old  religion.  We  spent 
several  days  at  Courtitout  and  were  intensely  interested  in 

4 


Historical 

the  home-life  of  this  deHghtful  French  family  of  high  rank 
and  luxurious  living.  Indeed,  it  was  the  most  interesting 
visit  I  have  ever  made.  Courtitout  is  a  magnificent  country 
seat  containing  about  one  thousand  acres,  with  four  hun- 
dred acres  of  lawn  in  front  of  the  chateau.  The  grounds 
were  laid  oft*  in  fine  drives  and  beautifully  ornamented 
paths. 

Though  some  parts  of  the  house  are  very  old,  only  a 
small  portion  of  the  ancient  chateau  remains.  Revolutionary 
troubles  and  civil  wars  in  France  have  evidently  from  time 
to  time  destroyed  all  records  and  parts  of  the  chateau,  which 
have  been  rebuilt  at  a  later  period.  The  possibility  of 
tracing  the  far  back  history  of  the  estate  is  thus  entirely 
lost.  From  tradition  we  learn  that  it  is  of  very  great  an- 
tiquity. We  were  told  that  at  the  great  Church  there  are 
preserved  records  of  the  Coffins.  It  is  here,  I  do  not  hes- 
itate to  say,  that  our  family  history  begins. 

When  our  time  came  to  leave,  our  delightful  host  and 
hostess  insisted  with  great  earnestness  on  us  remaining 
longer :  they  both  accompanied  us  to  the  railroad  station  at 
Falaise  and  bade  us  adieu  as  old  friends. 

From  Falaise  we  went  to  Caen,  a  beautiful  and  inter- 
esting city  twenty-two  miles  from  Falaise.  The  ancient 
castle  founded  by  William  the  Conqueror  is  here  and  the 
great  Minster  of  Saint  Etienne  (Saint  Stephens)  which  he 
founded  about  1070  in  which  is  to  be  seen  a  slab  which 
marks  the  spot  where  he  was  interred.  His  remains  were 
afterward  removed. 

During  the  time  we  spent  at  Caen,  I  visited  the  cele- 
brated horse-breeding  district  outside  of  the  city  where 
thousands  of  thoroughbred  horses  of  highest  pedigree  are 
bred  and  trained  (the  celebrated  Percherons,  draft  horses 
and  other  breeds)  for  service  for  which  the  animal  is  used. 

At  Bayeux,  the  next  point  of  interest,  we  saw  the  rich 
and  rare  old  tapestry  famous  the  world  over,  the  designs 

5 


Coffin 

illustrating  the  Conqueror's  fleet  crossing  the  Channel  to 
England,  and  the  battle  of  Hastings. 

This  visit  to  Normandy  was  illuminating,  adding  much 
to  the  glimmering  knowledge  we  had  of  the  origin  of  our 
Coffin  family  far  back  through  the  passing  centuries. 

On  ending  our  visit  here,  we  went  to  San  Lo  (San 
Malo)  and  took  steamer  for  the  Island  of  Jersey,  a  beau- 
tiful and  fertile  Island  very  highly  improved  and  having 
at  that  time  a  population  of  70,000.  The  upper  class  all 
speak  English,  but  many  of  the  common  people  cling  to  the 
old  Norman  French. 

We  saw  here  herds  of  the  fine  breed  of  Jersey  cattle 
which  are  exported  to  the  United  States.  Our  sojourn  on 
the  Island  was  very  enjoyable.  We  then  returned  to  Eng- 
land via.  Southampton.  From  well-founded  proofs,  not 
altogether  hazy,  together  with  the  fact  that  Falaise^  was 
the  town  of  William  the  Conqueror,  the  tradition  is  fairly 


I'The  town  of  Falaise  in  the  Diocese  of  Seez  is  one  of  the  most 
famous  spots  in  the  earlier  and  in  the  later  history  of  Normany, 
and  none  assuredly  surpasses  it  in  the  striking  character  of  its 
natural  position.  Lying  on  the  edge  of  the  great  forest  of  Gouffer, 
the  spot  had  its  natural  attractions  for  a  line  of  princes  renowned 
even  above  others  of  their  time  for  their  devotion  to  the  sports 
of  the  field.  The  town  itself  lies  in  a  sort  of  valley  between  two 
heights.  Two  stately  parish  Churches,  one  of  them  dating  from 
the  days  of  Norman  independence,  bear  witness  to  the  ecclesias- 
tical splendor  of  the  place.  Passing  by  them,  the  traveler  grad- 
ually ascends  to  the  gate  of  the  Castle,  renowned  alike  in  the  wars 
of  the  twelfth,  the  fifteenth  and  the  sixteenth  centuries.  The  Cas- 
tle where  legend  fixes  the  birth  of  William  of  Normandy,  and  where 
history  fixes  the  famous  homage  to  William  of  Scotland,  is  a  vast 
donjon  of  the  eleventh  or  twelfth  century.  One  of  the  grandest  of 
these  massive  square  keeps,  distinguishing  the  earliest  military  archi- 
tecture of  Normandy,  crowns  the  summit  of  a  precipitous  rock, 
fronted  by  another  mass  of  rock  wilder  still,  on  which  the  cannon 
of  England  were  planted  during  Henry's  siege.  To  these  rocks, 
these  felsen,  the  spot  owes  its  name  to  Falaise." — History  of  the 
Norman  Conquest  by  Edward  A.  Freeman.  Vol.  11,  p.  144. 


Historical 

nobles  who  went  in  the  ranks  with  WilHam  to  England  at 
established  that  Sir  Richard  Coffin  was  among  the  faithful 
the  time  of  the  Conquest. 

William  had  been  in  battle  array  in  his  native  land  be- 
fore. There  was  a  train  of  brave,  fighting  adherents  ready 
again  for  action  under  his  leadership.  In  the  Streets  of 
Falaise,  I  saw  the  grand  Equestrian  statue  of  the  Con- 
queror. 

The  Conqueror  embarked  for  England  with  his  fleet 
from  Dives  at  the  mouth  of  the  river  by  that  name."^ 

Mr.  Coffin  maintained  a  correspondence  from 
the  early  seventies  with  Admiral  H.  E.  Coffin  of 
the  British  Navy,  whose  residence  was  at  Caver- 
shan,  Reading,  England.  The  Admiral  visited 
Courtitout  in  1875.  He  writes  in  1880  that  he  had 
just  returned  from  a  second  visit  to  Courtitout, 
Falaise,  and  speaks  with  much  assurance,  saying: 

"From  the  ancestors  of  this  place  who  came  over  to 
England  with  William  Le  Battard  has  sprung  all  the  race 
of  Coffins  that  are  now  in  the  New  World,  and  that  de- 
scended from  Tristram  Coffin  who  left  England  to  take  up 
his  residence  in  Massachusetts." 


2That  the  Chateau  of  Falaise  was  the  rendezvous  of  the  troops 
of  William  for  his  descent  upon  England,  there  can  be  no  doubt. 
If  he  selected  the  harbor  of  Dives  as  the  place  to  unite  his  fleet, 
it  was  because  he  wished  that  the  waters  which  had  seen  him  born 
and  growing  up,  might  carry  him  to  the  throne.  Dives  is  the 
nearest  point  on  the  coast  to  Falaise."— Extract  translated  from 
the  French,  "The  Chateau  de  Falaise"  p.  78,  by  /.  M.  Hurel,  Pro- 
fessor de  "Ancien  Professeur  de  Rheterique,  Officier  d'  Academie." 


II 

It  has  already  been  stated  that  the  estate  of  the 
Coffins  in  England  is  at  Portledge  Manor,  North 
Devonshire. 

The  Manor  lands,  according  to  Doom's  Day 
survey,  were  held  under  the  ancient  Saxon  rule  by 
Ordulf,  in  the  reign  of  Ethelwulf  about  871. 

William  the  Conqueror  landed  his  troops  in 
England  at  Pevensey.  A  decisive  battle  was  fought 
at  Hastings,  October  14,  1066,  which  brought  to 
England  a  Norman  king.  On  the  following  Christ- 
mas Day,  the  Conqueror  was  crowned  at  Westmin- 
ster by  the  Archbishop  of  York  and  two  Roman 
Catholic  Cardinals. 

The  lands  of  England  now  fell  into  William's 
power  and  were  at  his  disposal,  and  all  except 
crown  lands  and  some  of  the  Church  holdings 
were  seized  and  distributed.  He  soon  afterward 
ordered  a  survey  of  the  entire  country  which  was 
completed  in  1086.  This  gave  us  that  most  valu- 
able Doom's  Day  Book^  which  contains  authentic 


^Doom's  Day  Book  contains  a  digest  in  Norman  French  of  the 
results  of  a  canvass  and  survey  of  all  the  lands  of  England.  It 
consists  of  two  volumes  which  are  still  preserved.  These  form  a 
valuable  record  of  the  ownership,  extent  and  value  of  the  lands 
at  the  time  of  the  survey  at  the  date  of  bestowal  when  they  had 
been  granted  by  the  King." — Century  Dictionary.  "Doom's  Day 
Book  was  intended  to  serve  as  a  basis  of  taxation ;  as  the  authority 
by    which    all    disputes    concerning    land    might    be    settled;    and    a 

9 


Coffin 

and  reliable  historical  knowledge  concerning  the 
present  Manor  lands  of  the  Portledge  estate  which, 
as  stated  by  Sir  William  Pole^  ''adjoyneth  the 
Northsea."  Portledge  also  is  clearly  marked  on  an 
ancient  map  of  England  made  in  1088  situated,  as 
at  the  present  time,  on  Barnstable  Bay.  It  is  here 
spelled  Portloc' 

Southwest  England  did  not  forfeit  its  lands  till 
after  a  hard  struggle  two  years  later — 1068.  The 
old  stronghold,  Exeter,  had  been  a  fortification  of 
no  ordinary  strength  for  more  than  a  century.    It 


muster  roll  of  the  nation;  as  far  as  it  goes,  it  is  very  exact  and 
correct.  No  nation  in  Europe  possesses  such  a  monument  of  its 
early  state." — From  "The  Norman's  in  Europe."   p.  188. 

2"Sir  William  Pole's  MS  is  one  of  the  oldest  extant  relative 
to  the  Coffin  Family.  The  MS  was  first  printed  in  1791  from  the 
original  autograph  in  the  possession  of  Sir  J.  W.  de  la  Pole,  by 
whom  it  was  edited.  It  is  in  two  volumes  folio.  It  contains  an 
account  of  the  several  parishes  in  Devonshire.  Pole  was  writing 
these  in  1599.  He  was  a  descendant  from  William  de  la  Pole  of 
Cheshire,  England,  and  was  raised  to  the  dignity  of  the  baronetcy. 
He  died  in  1648." — White  &  Son,  Publishers,  London. 

^The  translators,  we  are  told  by  different  historians,  found  it  a 
most  difficult  task  to  reproduce  the  old  Norman  French  names  into 
English  with  correctness.  Some  divergencies  occur  in  the  matter 
of  records,  changes  and  spelling,  owing  to  the  different  transla- 
tors ;  however,  there  is  no  difficulty  as  to  the  identity  of  the  places 
in  the  same  location,  though  the  spelling  is  varied,  the  strong  sim- 
ilarity and  even  the  repetition  of  the  names  and  titles  clearly  given 
are  surprising.  Portledge  is  spelled  on  an  ancient  map,  1088, 
"Portloc,"  then  in  Doom's  Day  Book,  "Potheridge"  "Portlynch" 
the  latter  is  so  given  in  early  deeds  and  on  some  of  the  tombs  in 
the  Church.  Barnstable  Bay  on  which  it  is  situated,  is  spelled 
"Beardanstapol."  "Alwington"  was  "Al wines tona,"  "Tavistock," 
"Tavestoche,"  "Bideford,"  "Lideborde,"  "Exeter,"  "Exonia." — The 
Editor. 

10 


Historical 

was  a  Diocese  under  Edward  the  Confessor.*  It 
was  then  as  now  the  chief  city  and  center  of  Dev- 
onshire. Portledge  estate  and  its  present  manor 
lands  are  less  than  thirty  miles  distant,  and  con- 
tinue to  be  in  the  same  Diocese. 

By  1070  the  Normans  had  taken  firm  root  and 
Devonshire  was  ruled  by  Norman  French  laws. 
Norman  French  prelates  were  brought  from 
France;  the  religion  and  form  of  worship  was  Ro- 
man Catholic.  Latin  was  the  language  of  the 
Church,  but  the  French  tongue  was  spoken  in  the 
courts  and  schools.  The  vassals  and  humble  class 
held  to  their  old  language.  The  confiscated  lands 
were  portioned  out  into  feudal  tenures,  and  Nor- 
man courtiers  and  men  of  noble  rank  became  the 
holders  of  these  lands.  The  great  estates  were 
placed  by  King  William  under  official  control  and 
supervision  of  Norman  nobles  of  high  rank  to 
whom  he  gave  the  chief  important  offices,  making 
the  office  hereditary.^  He  favored  his  half-brothers 
with  immense  acres.  Baldwin  de  Brionies,  one  of 
these,  was  created  Viscount  of  Devon  and  heredi- 
tary sheriff,  an  exalted  office  in  those  times,  invest- 
ing him  with  high  command  and  ''representative 
in  fiscal  matters,"^  whose  jurisdiction  extended 
over  a  large  territory. 


*Freeman's  History  of  the  Norman  Conquest,  Vol  11. 

^The  office  ceased  to  be  hereditary  in  the  reign  of  Henry  II, 
and  never  afterward  revived. — History  of  Norman  Conquest.  Free- 
man, Vol.  Ill,  p.  305. 

^The  Normans  in  Europe,  p.  163. 

11 


Coffin 

Robert  of  Normandy,  Count  of  Mortain,  an- 
other half-brother,  became  the  owner  of  thousands 
of  acres  of  confiscated  property  in  Devon  and  else- 
where.    Odo,  Bishop    of    Bayeux,    another    half- 
brother,  who  fought  in  the  battle  of  Hastings,  had 
Kent  estates  set  apart  for  him  and  lands  in  other 
counties/     Both  Baldwin  and  Robert  held  in  turn 
the  adjoining  manors  which  are  now  the  Portledge 
estate,     Alwington,     Parkham,     Potheredge     and 
Monkleigh  in  the    near    vicinity/     The    extensive 
lands  of  the  famous  Tavistock  Abbey  adjoining  the 
Alwington  Manor,  were  Church  holdings,  the  Mo- 
nastic Institution  having  been  founded  by  Ordulph 
in  961.    These  lands  were  now^  under  the  jurisdic- 
tion of  Baldwin,  however,  the  Commissioners  en- 
tered them  in  Doom's  Day  Book^  as  "held  by  the 
King  chargeable  with  feudal    obligations:"    prob- 
ably because  of  its  military  importance.   Tavistock 
was  one  of  three  military  centers  in  Devon.    Saint 
Peters  in  Exeter,  Tavistock  and  Herton  held  their 
lands  for  military  service,  not  for  alms." 


^These  nobles  and  peers  who  were  officials  and  near  the  Crown 
appear  according  to  Doom's  Day  Book,  to  have  made  many  ex- 
changes of  the  manors  allotted  to  them.  Historians  tell  us  that 
the  fiefs  and  subfiefs  were  multiplied  to  an  unlimited  number,  and 
that  there  were  endless  changes  of  leases  among  those  to  whom 
the  lands  were  bestowed.  The  manors  would  also  be  divided :  part, 
the  lord  of  the  manor  would  keep  for  his  own  use  under  the  name 
of  demesne,  the  rest  to  a  freehold  tenant. — Freeman.  Normans  in 
Europe,  Vol.  V,  p.  241. 

^Doom's  Day  Book. 

^Doom's  Day  Book  p.  380. 

i^The  Victorian   History  of  the  County  of  Devon,   p. 

12 


Historical 

It  was  from  these  Abbey  lands  that  the  original 
Manor  of  Alwington  with  Portledge  (Potheridge) 
were  set  apart  and  became  a  tributary  fief  to  the 
Abbot  of  Tavistock. 

The  County  of  Devonshire  was  divided  into  ad- 
ministrative districts  for  County  purposes,  each 
having  its  own  local  Court.  These  districts  were 
called  ''hundreds."  Among  these  centres  of  settle- 
ments recorded  in  the  Ancient  Survey  are  the 
names  above  mentioned,  all  located  in  ''Shebbear 
Hundred.'^ 

An  ecclesiastical  unit  of  these  manors  created  at 
a  later  period,  is  the  Parish  of  Alwington  includ- 
ing the  seat, — Portledge.  It  is  quite  evident  that 
Portledge  Manor  was  occupied  by  the  Coffins  on 
condition  of  military  service.  This  fact  confirms 
the  tradition  that  our  ancestral  Coffins  of  Portledge 
were,  from  the  earliest  history  of  the  Family  in 
England,  of  military  rank.  That  the  honor  of 
knighthood  was  conferred  upon  a  number  whose 
titles  were  authorized  is  shown  by  permanent  rec- 
ords in  later  decades. 


13 


Ill 

The  first  ancestor  in  England  of  whom  there  is 
record,  Richard  Coffin,  who,  tradition  says,  con- 
firmed by  the  late  lord  of  Portledge  Manor,  ''John 
R.  P.  Coffin,  was  a  distinguished  soldier  who  went 
with  William  the  Conqueror  to  England/'  The  his- 
torian, Tristram  Risdon,^  in  his  "Survey  of  Devon'' 
gives  us  the  following  historical  account  of  the 
earliest  conveyance  passed  by  grant  from  the  Abbot 
of  Tavistock  to  Richard  Coffin,  with  the  consent  of 
the  heirs  of  Baldwin  and  signed  by  Norman  wit- 
nesses, the  hereditary  feudal  tenure  or  fee  of  Al- 
wington  and  its  seat,  Portledge.  This  valuable  and 
important  document  is  beautifully  inscribed  in  the 
old  mother  Saxon  language,^  and  is  still  in  the  ar- 


^Tristram  Risdon  was  of  an  ancient  family  of  Devonshire.  He 
descended  from  Ralph  Risdon  of  King  Richard  I  reign.  He  was 
born  in  1580,  was  admitted  as  a  member  of  Exeter  College,  pos- 
sessed the  estate  Winscot,  Devon.  The  Coffin  and  Risdon  families 
intermarried  in  the  Parkham  Church.  His  "Survey  of  Devon"  was 
printed  from  a  genuine  copy  of  the  original  MS.  London  1811.  Ris- 
don died  1640,  and  "lyeth  buried  in  St.  Giles'  Church." 

2The  monkish  chronicles  of  Tavistock  Abbey,  were  evidently 
inscribed  in  the  Saxon  language.  Prince  tells  us  "there  stood  for 
many  decades  the  refectory  or  common  hall  and  the  Saxon  school 
and  Chapter  House  of  the  Abbey.  In  this  school  were  given  lec- 
tures in  the  ancient  Saxon  language  appointed  to  be  read  lest  the 
laws  antiquities  and  histories  written  therein  should  quite  be  lost 
or  forgotten.  These  lectures  continued  to  our  grandsires'  day." 
Sir  Henry  Spellman,  with  a  desire  to  perpetuate  the  same  tongue, 
founded  a  Saxon  lecture  course  in  Cambridge  "to  preserve  the 
ancient  language." — Worthies  of  Devon,  p.  819. 

15 


Coffin 

chives  at  Portledge.     It  has  been  examined  by  the 
writer  when  a  guest  at  Portledge : — 

"Alwington^ — the  manor  thereof  hath  been  in  the  name 
of  Coffin,  even  from  the  Conquest,  whose  dwelling  house  is 
at  Portledge  within  the  same  parish,  the  antiquity  of  which 
Family  appeareth  by  a  boundary  deed  written  in  the  Saxon 
language  between  Richard  Coffin,  lord  of  this  manor  and 
Cockmenton  and  the  Abbot  of  Tavistock,  concerning  the 
bounds  of  both  lands,  which  agreement  was  made  with  the 
consent  of  Galfride,  the  son  of  Baldwin  and  Nicholas  his 
heir,  chief  lord  of  the  fee,  whereunto  were  witnesses: 

William  Dacies* 

Joel  de  Launcels 

Henry  de  Aluco 

Ralph  de  Lega 

Hamlin  de  Leigh 

Fulk  de  Veteri  Ponte 
Of  this  family  (Coffin)   from  the  time  of  Henry  the  I 
unto  the  age  of  King  Edward  H,  all  were  called  Richard 
of  whom  were  divers  Knights." 

Naturally  we  find  the  names  of  Norman  lords 
or  chief  men  of  the  community,  witnesses  of  the 
contract. 

The  Reverend  John  Prince^  a  fully  accredited 


^"Survey  of  Devon"  by  Tristram  Risdon,  p.  243. 

*'Trior  to  the  middle  of  the  eleventh  century  surnames  were  not 
know^n."     M.  C.  J. 

5"The  Reverend  John  Prince  was  born  in  the  year  1643  at  Newn- 
ham,  Parish  of  Axminster,  a  neighboring  parish  to  Alwington, 
Devon.  In  1660  he  was  admitted  a  student  at  Oxford,  took  a  degree 
in  1664  and  entered  holy  orders.  He  began  active  duties  of  his 
profession  at  Bideford,  and  afterward  assumed  charge  of  the  par- 
ish of  St.  Martin's,  Exeter.  While  here,  he  obtained  a  degree  of 
Master  of  Arts  from  the  University  of  Cambridge.     In  1681  he  be- 

16 


Historical 

English  historian  who  was  on  intimate  terms  with 
the  occupants  of  Portledge  and  had  free  access  to 
the  hundreds  of  deeds  and  documents  in  the  ar- 
chives of  Portledge  Manor,  during  the  period  that 
he  was  Rector  of  the  ancient  Bideford  Church, 
narrates  the  following  in  his  ''Worthies  of  Devon." 
Of  the  family  at  Portledge  he  says: — 

"I  find  Sir  Richard  Coffin  of  Alwington,  Knight,  so  far 
back  as  the  days  of  King  Henry  II,  and  that  the  Manor  of 
Alwington  (Portledge)  hath  been  in  the  name  of  Coffin 
from  the  time  of  the  Norman  Conquest  unto  this  day.  As 
further  evidence  of  the  antiquity  of  this  gentile  family, 
there  is  a  boundry-deed,  a  copy  whereof  is  in  my  custody, 
made  near  the  Conquest,  written  in  the  Saxon  tongue,  which 
giveth  good  confirmation  thereof.  Which  said  deed  ex- 
presseth  the  bounds  between  the  lands  of  Richard  Coffin, 
Lord  of  the  Manor  of  Alwington  and  Cockmenton,  and  the 
Abbot  of  Tavistock,  in  relation  to  the  lands  belonging  to 
that  Abby,  in  the  near  adjoyning  parish  of  Abbotsham. 
Some  of  the  terms  of  which  agreement  between  them  are 
these : 

That  the  Abbot  and  Convent  of  Tavistock  should  give 
to  the  said  Richard  Coffin  and  his  next  heir,  full  fraternity 
in  his  Church  of  Tavistock  to  receive  there  the  habit  of  re- 
ligion whensoever  (God  so  inspiring)  they  would,  and  that 
in  the  meantime  he  should  have  the  privilege  of  one  monk 
there ;^   (this  is  given  in  Latin).     This  family  very  easily 


came  the  Vicar  of  Berry-Pomeroy,  Devon,  which  he  held  forty-two 
years  until  his  death,  1723.  He  was  the  author  of  several  publica- 
tions." From  an  edition  of  "The  Worthies  of  Devon"  printed  from 
the  original  MS  after  his  death. 

®The  monk's  cell  was  in  a  perfect  state  of  preservation  when 
the  writer  visited  Portledge  Manor  and  was  shown  by  J.  R.  P. 
Coffin  as  an  interesting  relic  of  feudal  times,  the  earliest  Portledge 
history. — M.  C.  J. 

17 


Coffin 

spread  itself  into  several  branches,  which  flourished  so  well 
in  divers  places  in  this  country  (Devon)  that  they  left  their 
name  and  adjunct  to  them,  as  Combe-Coffin,  now  Combe- 
Pyne,  in  the  east  part,  Coffins-Will  on  the  south  part  and 
Coffins-Ingarly  in  the  west  part  of  this  province;  in  which 
last  place  the  mansion-house  was  near  the  Church  to  which 
was  belonging  a  fair  deer  park  now  wholly  demolished.  Nor 
is  it  less  observable  that  some  of  those  places  yielded  gentle- 
men with  gilded  spurs  as  Sir  Geoffrey  Coffin  of  Combe-Cof- 
fin in  the  days  of  King  Henry  III,  and  before  that,  Sir 
Elias  Coffin  of  Ingarly,  called  also  Sir  Elias  Coffin  of  CHst, 
(from  Sir  William  Pole's  Catalogue  of  the  Knights  in  King 
John's  reign  MS.)  in  the  days  of  King  John  of  England. 

As  to  the  family  of  Alwington,  I  find  three  Knights 
therein  before  Sir  William  Coffin,  all  of  which  were  called 
Richard,  as  for  example.  Sir  Richard  Coffin  of  Alwington, 
Knight  in  the  reign  of  King  Henry  H,  and  Sir  Richard 
Coffin  of  Alwington,  Knight,  in  the  days  of  King  Henry  HI 
and  Sir  Richard  Coffin  of  Alwington  in  the  days  of  King 
Edward  I.  And  as  one  notes  from  the  time  of  King  Henry 
I  unto  the  age  of  King  Edward  II  (the  space  of  above  two 
hundred  years)  the  heir  of  this  family  was  always  called 
Richard,  of  which  name  is  the  present  heir  and  possessor 
of  this  ancient  seat  of  Portledge,  a  right  worthy  and  wor- 
shipful gentleman  of  great  piety  and  virtue;  and  for  his 
quality  of  excellent  learning,  especially  in  venerable  an- 
tiquity which  hath  been  much  his  delight  and  study.  He 
hath  a  notable  library  and  knows  well  how  to  make  use  of 
it.  He  was  High  Sheriff  of  this  county  in  the  second  year 
of  King  James  II  as  his  ancestor  and  namesake  was  in  the 
second  year  of  King  Henry  VIII,  as  appears  by  the  quietus 
he  had  out  of  the  Exchequer  now  in  the  present  gentle- 
man's custody.  They  (the  Coffins)  have  matched  as  they 
came  along  into  several  honorable  families,  as  Chudlegh, 
Prideaux,   Cary,   and   with   daughters   and   heirs  as   Cock- 

menton  and  others." 

18 


Historical 

We  cannot  refuse  to  accept  the  historical  evi- 
dence of  the  historians,  Risdon  and  Prince,  con- 
cerning the  occupation  of  Portledge  Manor  by  the 
Coffins  from  the  time  of  the  Conquest.  "In  Eng- 
land, feud  was  very  early,  if  not  from  the  first, 
used  to  denote  a  heritable  though  a  dependent 
right;  little  difference  was  felt  between  the  feud 
and  the  fullest  ownership  possible.  All  the  lands 
were  held  practically  by  the  King"^  except  some  of 
the  ecclesiastical  holdings  and  those  given  to  favor- 
ite nobles.  There  were,  no  doubt,  a  succession  of 
Coffins  owners  of  this  estate  who  held  in  fief  for  a 
period   of  a    century   and  a    half.^     The  heritable 


■^Webster's  New  International  Dictionary. 
^Risdon  MS  of  Devon  p.  243,  says: 

"Alwington,  vulgarly  Allington,  the  manor  whereof  hath  been 
in  the  name  of  Coffin  even  from  the  Conquest,  whose  dwelling 
house  is  at  Portledge,  within  the  same  parish. 

"The  antiquity  of  which  family  appeareth  by  a  boundary  deed, 
written  in  the  Saxon  language,  between  Ric.  Coffin,  lord  of  this 
manor  and  Cockmenton,  and  the  Abbot  of  Tavistock,  lord  of  the 
manor  of  Abbotsham,  concerning  the  bounds  of  both  their  lands, 
which  agreement  was  made  with  the  consent  of  Galfride,  the  son 
of  Baldwin,  and  Nicholas  his  heir.  Chief  Lord  of  the  fee;  where- 
unto  were  witnesses: 

"William   Dacus    (Dennis) 
"Ric.  de  Bohesumba   (Bocomb,  in  Alwington) 
"Joel  de  Launcels 

"Hen.  de  Aluco   (Alneto,  in  Sir  W.  P.) 
"Ralph  de  Lege 
"Hamlyn  de  Leigh 
"Fulk  de  Veteri  Ponte" 
Though  this  deed  has  disappeared,   it  must  have  been   seen  by 
Risdon  as  the  text  is  given  in  detail.     As  the  deed  was  in  Saxoti 
language  while  the  witnesses  all  bore  Norman  French  names,  the 
date  of  transfer  might  have  been  in  1070  or  certainly  not  later  than 

19 


Coffin 

feudal  system  continued  well  nigh  two  hundred 
years.  It  was  then  to  a  large  degree  shattered  dur- 
ing the  reign  of  King  John  when  a  wider  and  more 
just  system  was  created,  and  title  deeds  of  full  in- 
dividual ownership  were  confirmed  by  the  charter 
of  King  John  and  King  Henry  III.  This  explains 
the  first  recorded  authentic  deeds  of  Portledge  to 
Richard  Cophin  of  the  period — 1220. 

Other  manuscripts  and  important  documents  of 
high  value  are  still  preserved  in  hundreds  in  the 
collection  at  Portledge  Manor.  Among  these  is  one 
rare  and  almost  unique,  a  Royal  Grant  from  Henry 
II  to  Richard  Coffin  of  Portledge,  a  "free  warren 
in  the  lands  of  Alwington"  in  which  parish  Port- 
ledge is  situated.  There  are  very  few  such  docu- 
ments in  existence,  and  there  is  hardly  a  case  of 
free  warrens  being  held  by  a  family  still  bearing 
the  same  name  and  occupying  the  same  estate. 

Among  other  notable  deeds  is  one  given  in  the 
time  of  Henry  III — 1220 — signed  by  ''Richard 
Cophin."^  These  deeds  are  inscribed  in  great  neat- 
ness to  which  are  attached  heavy  seals  of  green 
waxen  substance,  one  by  a  silken  cord  which  is  in 
almost  a  perfect  state  of  preservation,  bearing  an 
equestrian  figure  of  a  knight  with  shield  and  arms. 

A  small  charter  in  Latin  given  by  Henry  III 


1100.     Galfride  was  the  son  of  Baldwin,  half  brother  to  the  Con- 
queror;  Nicholas  probably  Baldwin's  grandson. — W.  E.   C. 

^These  numerous  and  interesting  documents,  through  the  per- 
sonal kind  attentions  of  the  then  lord  of  the  Manor,  J.  R.  P.  Coffin, 
were  examined  by  the  writer  when  a  guest  at  Portledge. 

20 


Historical 

with  the  great  seal  in  green  wax  attached  is  not  in 
so  perfect  a  state.  It  reads:  'Whereby  at  Bor- 
deuxo,  on  the  28th  day  of  August,  in  the  38th  year 
of  his  reign,  1254,  at  the  instance  of  John  de  Court- 
enay,  the  Sovereign  grants  to  Richard  Coffin  and 
his  heirs  forever  free  warren  in  all  his  demesnes 
and  lands  of  Alwington  in  the  County  of  Devon, 
so  long  as  they  be  not  within  the  bounds  of  the  for- 
est. Witnesses:  Boniface  (Archbishop  of  Canter- 
bury) and  others." 

Through  many  centuries  the  ancient  records 
and  family  documents  show  that  Portledge  Manor 
in  Devonshire  descended  by  inheritance  to  succes- 
sive heirs  who  possessed  the  life  blood  of  the 
Coffins. 

In  1766  the  natural  heir  of  the  Manor,  Sir  Rich- 
ard Coffin,  M.  P.,  died  unmarried,  at  the  age  of  82 
years  and  Portledge  was  inherited  by  his  sister 
Honor  Coffin,  who  afterwards  married  Richard 
Bennett.  Upon  their  deaths  the  old  Manor  de- 
scended to  their  son  Richard  Bennett  Coffin,  he 
having  assumed  the  name  of  Coffin.  He  died  Sep- 
tember 30,  1796;  Portledge  passed  to  a  great  ne- 
phew, the  Rev.  John  Pine,  who  was  a  grandson  of 
Dorothy  Coffin."^   He  by  royal  license  assumed  the 


loThe  strain  of  Coffin  blood  extended  down  through  the  female 
line.  Honour  (Coffin)  Bennett  and  Dorothy  (Coffin)  Pine  who  en- 
joyed the  right  of  inheritance,  they  being  "next  of  kin;"  but  wo- 
man's personality  in  the  holding  of  lands  in  her  own  individual 
name  was  not  recognized  for  several  centuries,  the  husband  receiv- 
ing the  title-deed  to  his  wife's  property.  In  the  two  cases  above 
the  two  husbands  assumed  by  Act  of  Parliament  the  name  of  Coffin. 

21 


Coffin 

name  of  Coffin,  February  25,  1797.  Since  that  time 
the  arms  of  the  Pine  family  have  been  impaled  with 
those  of  Coffin. 

Richard  Bennett,  son  of  Honor  Coffin  Bennett 
provided  in  his  will  entailment  of  the  title  to  de- 
scendants of  Coffin  heirs,  and  so  the  late  John  Pine 
Coffin  held  in  inalienable  right.  It  is  now  (1921) 
held  by  his  family,  he  having  left  at  his  death  in 
1890,  his  widow  and  eleven  living  children. 


22 


IV 

PORTLEDGE  MaNOR 

PoRTLEDGE  House,  the  seat  of  the  Coffins,  is  sit- 
uated on  the  high  road  from  Bideford  to  Clovelly 
on  the  British  Channel,  four  and  a  half  miles  south- 
west of  Bideford.  A  delightful  drive  over  a  fine 
road,  lined  on  either  side  the  entire  distance  with 
luxuriant  hedges,  brambled  vines,  trees  of  rich  fol- 
iage and  blooming  flowers,  sometimes  passing  be- 
tween high  banks  covered  with  pretty  grasses, 
brings  us  to  the  great  gateway. 

On  entering  the  grounds,  the  drive  in  the  park 
is  a  full  half  mile  on  a  winding  road  overshadowed 
by  noble  oaks.  At  almost  every  turn,  some  new 
charm  and  fresh  scene  of  beauty  is  disclosed,  till 
the  ancient  homestead  is  reached.  This  family  seat 
is  a  study  filled  with  interest. 

The  building  is  of  stone  and  has  been  kept  in 
repair;  some  of  its  parts  are  much  modernized. 
We  enter  a  large,  almost  square,  stately  hall  that 
has  an  attractive  arched  ceiling  which  extends  the 
height  of  the  entire  building,  and  is  known  as  the 
''Long  Gallery."  Around  this  hall  at  the  second  or 
upper  story  is  a  balustrade  forming  a  gallery,  upon 
the  walls  of  which,  and  in  the  dining  room,  are 
hanging  old  family  portraits  of  ancestral  Coffins, 
men  and  women  of  past  generations  and  centuries. 

Oaken  doors,  elaborately  carved,  lead  from  one 
2Z 


Coffin 

spacious  apartment  to  another.  The  Coat  of  Arms 
frescoed  upon  the  ceiHng  of  the  dining  room  is 
quartered  with  those  of  the  Pine  family,  an  ancient 
family  of  Devon  with  whom  the  Coffins  have  long 
been  intermarried  and  who  have  taken  the  name 
Pine-Coffin. 

The  lands  belonging  to  the  estate  upon  which 
the  Manor-house  is  located  comprise  the  most  of 
the  Alwington  Parish,  and  border  on  Barnstable 
Bay.  A  charming  walk  from  the  house  to  the  beach 
is  girdled  with  trees,  luxuriant  ferns  and  thick 
shrubs.  Beside  the  surf  are  placed  seats  inviting 
one  to  sit  and  muse  about  those  whose  footsteps 
once  trod  here,  and  who,  though  people  we  have 
never  known,  seem  like  our  own  and  near  to  us. 
Lawn  and  garden  are  in  a  splendid  state  of  culti- 
vation. 

There  are  several  villages  on  the  estate.  In 
one  of  these  is  "Fairy  Cross"  the  residence  of  the 
Rector  of  Alwington  Parish;  other  homes  are  oc- 
cupied by  persons  and  families  in  the  employ  of  the 
lord  of  the  Manor,  the  school  mistress,  the  miller, 
one  carpenter,  one  blacksmith,  the  butler,  the  head 
gardener,  nine  farmers  and  a  post  office.  In  1696, 
Sir  Richard  Coffin  founded  and  endowed  alms 
houses,  providing  for  indigent  persons.  The  chari- 
ties dispensed  from  the  estate,  by  entailment, 
amount  to  £60  a  year.  There  is  also  a  parochial 
school  and  a  small  Methodist  church  maintained  at 
the  expense  of  the  owner  of  the  estate. 

24 


Historical 

The  quaint  and  attractive  villages  of  Westward 
Ho,  immortalized  by  Charles  Kingsley,  and  Clo- 
velly,  the  delight  of  artists,  adjoin  the  estate,  but 
are  not  a  part  of  it. 

Relics  of  the  long  past  as  well  as  the  old  time 
portraits  have  survived  the  centuries.  The  monk's 
cell  of  very  ancient  date,  is  still  in  a  complete  state 
of  preservation  and  stands  for  a  voucher  for  the 
correct  statements  of  the  historian.  Prince.  His- 
torians tell  us  that  a  resident  monk  or  priest  was 
kept  in  the  large  households  of  those  early  times 
to  serve  as  a  spiritual  teacher  and  to  conduct  the 
daily  devotions.  This  cell  may  also  sometimes  have 
been  occupied  by  the  parish  priest  representative  of 
the  Court  of  the  "hundred"  who  was  an  important 
leader  in  the  moral  and  educational  life  of  the 
times.  J.  R.  Pine-Coffin,  lord  of  Portledge  Manor, 
with  much  interest  led  the  writer  to  two  very  an- 
cient millstones  lying  in  one  corner  of  the  lawn 
which  had  been  used  centuries  ago  for  grinding 
grain.^ 

Among  other  heirlooms  shown,  there  is  stand- 
ing in  the  great  hall  an  imposing  high  seat  said  to 
have  been  preserved  and  used  in  the  early  Anglo- 


i"A  mill  is  an  unfailing  mark  of  a  Manor,  but  not  every  manor 
had  a  mill  because  water  power  was  necessary.  Windmills  were 
unknown  in  England  at  the  time  of  Doom's  Day." — Victorian  His- 
tory of  Devon,  p.  399. 

"Among  the  mills  named  is  Honitan.  Honitan  is  shown  on  an 
ancient  map  of  1088  as  an  ecclesiastical  district.  The  ecclesiastical 
divisions  of  the  County  were  not  the  same  as  the  political." — Nor- 
mans in  Europe,  p.  151. 

25 


Coffin 

Norman  period,  probably  when  a  local  Court  was 
held  or  on  stately  occasions. 

An  arched  Norman  doorway  of  great  antiquity 
at  one  end  of  an  entrance  into  the  oldest  part  of  the 
building,  is  conceded  to  be  one  of  the  most  perfect 
specimens  of  Norman  arches  in  England.  The  well 
preserved  seals  of  green  wax  attached  to  deeds 
given  during  centuries  in  the  past,  on  which  is  de- 
picted a  knight  clad  in  armor  are  relics  of  great 
worth.  Perhaps  the  relics  of  highest  value  are 
found  in  the  muniment  room  in  the  upper  story  of 
the  ancient  Manor.  Here  are  a  wonderful  diversi- 
fied collection  of  hundreds  of  ancient  Norman 
French  and  Latin  documents,  letters,  etc.,  belong- 
ing to  various  periods,  covering  centuries.  In  look- 
ing them  over  one  is  drawn  into  close  companion- 
ship with  the  long  past,  and  the  changing  scenes 
of  the  Kingdom." 

The  valuable  library  belonging  to  Portledge 
was  sold  by  the  then  owner  in  1801,  a  great  loss  to 
the  succeeding  generations  of  Coffins.^ 

The  gallery  of  ancestral  portraits  on  the  Port- 


2Most  of  this  collection  of  documents  require  to  be  translated. 
They  are  in  much  confusion  and  in  an  unassorted  state.  Prince, 
who  lived  temporary  with  Sir  Richard  Coffin,  High  Sheriff,  1664- 
1669,  had  full  access  to  the  above  original  documents  and  papers, 
and  gained  much  of  his  reliable  information  concerning  the  earliest 
history  of  the  Coffins  in  England  from  them.  He  was  during  this 
period  at  one  time  Rector  of  Bideford  Church. 

3Sir  Richard  Coffin  was  a  painstaking  genealogist  and  left  a 
large  quantity  of  memorable  work,  among  these,  a  valuable  Heraldic 
Dictionary. 

26 


Historical 

ledge  walls  are  of  special  interest  to  the  visitor. 
Some  of  these  date  back  to  a  period  of  several  hun- 
dred years.*  A  study  of  these  reveals  much  of  the 
reality  of  the  lives  of  these  far-away  ancestors,  not 
only  of  their  personal  appearance  but  something  of 
their  characters.  The  costumes  mark  the  fact  that 
they  lived  and  moved  among  the  high  born.  At- 
tractive and  accomplished  dames  in  courtly  gowns 
of  the  prevailing  styles  of  the  period  are  repre- 
sented, and  soldiers  in  armor.  We  learn  from  the 
chroniclers  of  the  times  that  rich  garments  made 
of  fine  Flanders  cloth  and  other  rich  materials, 
decorated  with  embroidery  and  gold  thread  were 
worn  in  the  costumes  of  the  upper  class. 

The  Coffins  of  Portledge  evidently  possessed 
the  vivacity  of  their  inherited  French  nature,  and 
enjoyed  social  gaiety  and  the  luxuries  the  times  af- 
forded. The  elaborately  carved  minstrels'  gallery 
from  which  the  jester  in  fantastic  costume  with 
songs  and  clever  acts  and  trickery  amused  the 
gathered  household,  has  been  transferred  from  the 
''Long  Gallery"  to  the  Parish  Church  of  Saint  An- 
drew (Alwington  Church)  and  now  serves  as  the 
Family  pew. 

We  must  not  forget  that  these  worthy  ancestors 
lived  in  the  times  of  chivalry.    There  is  every  evi- 


*The  writer,  through  the  kind  favor  of  J.  R.  Pine-Coffin,  lord 
of  the  Manor,  had  photographs  made  of  some  of  these  portraits; 
the  most  ancient  pictures  were  so  creased  by  age  in  the  background 
of  the  canvas  they  would  not  bear  the  camera. 

27 


Coffin 

dence  that  they  were  followers  of  the  usual  activi- 
ties in  out-of-door  sports  and  pastimes  of  the  per- 
iod. There  was  much  horseback  riding  in  those 
times.  Men  traveled  about.  They  vied  to  excel  in 
the  chase;  they  practiced  archery;  the  knight  who 
was  a  good  marksman  with  strong  bow  and  sure 
flight  of  the  arrow,  or  dextrous  in  the  games  of 
chivalry,  gave  proof  of  his  manly  nature  and 
gained  importance  and  honor. 

The  country  was  not  wholly  in  primitive  wild- 
ness,  yet  it  was  far  behind  the  modern  advance- 
ment that  came  in  later  decades.  Portledge  was 
scarcely  distant  thirty  miles  from  Exeter.  Exeter 
was  a  Cathedral  city  which  was  in  uninterrupted 
communication  with  the  parishes  in  its  diocese 
which  were  located  in  the  surrounding  parts  of  the 
country.  Its  fortress  was  a  great  stronghold  and 
ancient  center  for  well  nigh  a  century  before  the 
siege  of  William  the  Conqueror,  and  with  its  fa- 
mous castle,  the  town  and  surrounding  country  was 
far  from  being  isolated.  The  Romans  in  their  time 
had  built  roads  which  were  still  maintained  and 
which  diverged  in  many  directions  from  the  Fort. 

King  Edward  I  commanded  in  1285  that  the 
highways  leading  to  the  principal  market  towns 
should  be  enlarged  and  improved. 


28 


V 

Church  of  Saint  Andrew,  Alwington  Parish 

The  parish  Church  of  Saint  Andrew  is  situated 
about  one  mile  from  the  manor-house.  This  Church 
is  in  the  Diocese  of  Exeter  and  is  a  dependency  of 
Portledge  Manor,  the  Rector  receiving  his  appoint- 
ment and  Hving  from  the  lord  of  the  Manor. 

The  edifice  is  an  ancient  structure  of  solid 
stone.  Though  of  uncertain  date,  it  certainly 
reaches  back  to  the  thirteenth  century  as  evidenced 
by  its  Anglo-Norman  architecture,  and  by  certain 
tombs  in  the  Churchyard.  It  stands  in  picturesque 
solitude  with  not  a  dwelling  in  sight,  a  most  peace- 
ful and  romantic  spot.  Generation  after  genera- 
tion of  the  Coffin  ancestors  have  worshiped  within 
its  walls,  and  laid  down  the  cares  of  earth  in  the 
deep,  calm  restfulness  of  the  sacred  soil  surround- 
ing it. 

The  lofty  square  tower  is  turreted  with  pin- 
nacles at  the  corner,  and  contains  six  bells.  Orig- 
inally there  were  but  four  till  the  year  1868  when 
the  Church  was  reseated  and  the  number  was  in- 
creased to  six.  The  first  bell  has  a  legend  in 
crowned  Lombardic  characters;  the  second,  the 
words  inscribed  ''Sancta  Maria";  the  third  dated 
1712;  the  tenor  has  an  invocation  to  the  Virgin  in 
lettering  like  the  second. 

29 


Coffin 

In  the  interior  of  the  Church,  one  is  encom- 
passed with  monumental  slabs  upon  the  walls,  and 
tables  of  stone  with  which  the  floor  is  covered,  al- 
most everyone  bearing  the  name  of  Coffin  or  some 
allied  families,  many  of  them  so  worn  by  age  that 
the  inscriptions  can  scarcely  be  deciphered.  In 
looking  at  them,  one  feels  the  atmosphere  of  cen- 
turies. The  inscriptions  of  many  are  singular  in 
style  and  expression.  One  of  the  most  notable  was 
''Erected  by  the  sole  surviving  son,  James  Coffin 
fifth,  son  of  Sir  Richard  Coffin,  to  the  pius  mem- 
ory of  his  honored  parents,  in  the  year  1651." 
Their  fifteen  children  appear  in  bas-relief  demi- 
effigies  of  bust,  in  marching  order^  one  behind  the 
other.  An  ancient  monumental  slab  is  in  the  pave- 
ment of  the  nave ;  a  stone  flarated  cross  bearing  an 


^Inscription.  "M.  S.  Richard  Coflfin,  of  Portledge,  Esqr.  and 
Elizabeth  his  wife,  daughter  of  Leonard  Loviz  Vebare,  in  Ye  Countie 
Esqr. 

He  deceased  July  25th,  Anno  Dni.  1617,  aetat 

Svae  48. 

She  departed  this  life 

May  the  3rd,  Ao  Do,  1651,  aetat 

Svae  80. 

"All  heer  portrayed   sieives   one  wynd  Coffin   sent 
Through  heavens  canopy  And  to  earth  here  lent, 
Perfumed  with  Virtues  &  bedewed  with  grace, 
I  adorn  thee  with  a  progeny  for  a  space — 

One  man  took  life  from  dead  Elisha's  bones, 

Eight  marshalled  sons  lived  from  this  Coffin's  loins  : 

With  daughters  seven,  they  from  this  vine  did  sprout 

Like  olive  plants  their  table  round  about: 

Thrice  happy  fruitful  Coffin  may  thy  buds  spring 

And  to  Eternity  Halleluyah's  sing." 

30 


Historical 

inscription  to  the  memory  of  ''George  Dyell  Es- 
quire, ob.  August  29,  1513."  Another  inscription 
on  a  tomb  reads: — ''Here  was  interred,  December 
25,  1555  Richard  Coffin  of  Portlynch  (Portledge) 
and  on  June  13,  1559,  Wilmot  Chudleigh  his  wife.'* 
There  is  a  memorial  to  Sir  Richard  Coffin  (Sheriff) 
ob.  1699.  Another  monument  to  be  noted  is  that  of 
"Sir  John  Coffin  armour  bearer  of  Portledge." 
The  Coffin  Arms  are  quartered  on  the  carved  shield 
with  the  fleur-de-lis  of  France,  indicating  that  he 
was  of  military  fame.  The  inscription  in  Latin  is 
long.  It  states  that  "he  returned  to  his  native  soil 
a  solace  not  more  to  his  neighbors  and  relatives 
than  an  ornament  to  his  country." 

The  pulpit  in  the  Church  and  the  memorial  pew 
are  elaborately  carved  in  old  Irish  oak.  The  pulpit 
is  enriched  with  impaled  shields  of  the  Coffin  Fam- 
ily Arms.  This  Family  pew,  as  has  been  already 
stated,  was  once  the  minstrel  gallery  in  the  long 
gallery  in  Portledge  house.  It  is  located  several 
feet  above  the  pews  of  the  congregation  as  is  still 
seen  in  many  of  the  older  churches  in  England,  and 
is  surmounted  by  a  canopy  which  is  also  orna- 
mented with  beautifully  executed  carvings  in  old 
Irish  oak. 

Near  the  door  stands  an  ancient  baptismal  font 
in  stone.  From  its  symbolic  waters  both  Church 
and  State  have  recognized  and  recorded  the  name 
of  Coffin  for  more  than  eight  centuries. 

In  the  Churchyard  with  its  numerous  tomb- 
31 


Coffin 

stones  and  historic  associations  are  quaint  monu- 
mental stones  still  standing  erect  and  worn  so  thin 
by  'Time"  that  the  names  can  scarcely  be  deciph- 
ered. Some  of  these  are  cut  in  the  shape  of  the  hu- 
man body  or  the  old  style  casket,  with  a  curiously 
designed  Roman  cross  chiseled  upon  them. 


32 


VI 

Family  Arms 

From  an  early  period  in  England,  individuals 
and  noble  families  adopted  a  distinguishing  mark 
or  insignia  which  was  depicted  on  their  seals  as  a 
family  badge/  On  a  heavy  green  wax  seal  at- 
tached to  a  deed  given  to  ''Richard  Cophin  of  Port- 
ledge"  in  the  reign  of  Henry  III,  1220  (referred 
to  on  page  25)  is  portrayed  a  Knight  in  full  armor 
on  horseback  bearing  the  most  ancient  ensign  of 
the  Coffins  now  known — the  shield  with  chevron 
between  three  mullets  sab. 

The  origin  of  heraldic  arms  has  never  been  sat- 
isfactorily settled  by  students  of  heraldry.  Grants 
were  given  in  England  about  the  middle  of  the 
twelfth  century.  There  is  no  conclusive  evidence 
that  they  were  instituted  in  that  country  at  an  earl- 
ier period.  Sir  Richard  Coffin,  High  Sheriff  of 
Devon,  1685-1699  who  was  a  painstaking  histori- 
cal writer  to  whose  valuable  manuscript  and  library 


i"Before  the  modern  practice  of  subscribing  names  to  deeds, 
wills,  etc.,  it  was  the  universal  custom  to  use  seals,  with  the  family 
device  engraved  thereon,  and  it  was  therefore  enacted  by  sundry 
statutes  that  every  freeholder  should  have  his  proper  seal  of  arms, 
and  should  appear  himself  at  the  head  court  of  the  county,  or  send 
his  attorney  with  his  seal,  and  they  who  were  without  them,  to  be 
fined;  so  that  the  said  freeholders  sent  to  the  clerk  of  the  court 
an  impression  of  their  seals  in  lead  who  kept  them  to  produce  or 
compare  as  occasion  required." — From  Burke's  General  Armory, 
page  7. 

33 


Coffin 

at  Portledge  our  historian,  Prince,  had  access,  left 
a  large  folio  MS  volume  most  carefully  prepared, 
a  Heraldic  Dictionary,  written  by  himself,  and  an- 
other MS  in  which  he  inscribed  the  Arms  of  Cof- 
fin and  other  Devonshire  families.  Prince  in  de- 
scribing the  Arms  says: — "I  have  seen  in  the 
hands  of  the  present  heir  of  the  Family  a  deed  unto 
which  the  aforementioned  Coat  of  bezants  and 
crosslets  were  affixed  as  belonging  to  the  name: 
Coffin — date  22  reign  of  Edward  III."  Prince 
gives  a  copy  of  the  plate  in  his  volume  written  1690 
-1701.  Azure,  three  bezants^  between  five  cross- 
crosslets  or. 

It  is  conceded  by  most  authorities  upon  English 
heraldry  that  the  armorial  bearings,  the  cross- 
crosslets,  termed  the  Jerusalem  cross,  and  the  be- 
zant depicted  on  the  Arms  of  Coffin  indicate  that 
Crusaders  went  out  from  the  ancient  family  at 
Portledge.  The  device  appears  to  have  been  orig- 
inated about  the  time  of  the  third  Crusade,  1191- 
1199.  The  combination  is  unlike  most  other  fam- 
ily bearings.^  The  ancient  seal  which  bears  the 
emblems  of  a  deed  still  preserved  at  Portledge,  al- 


^The  bezant  represents  the  ancient  gold  coin  of  Byzantium  cur- 
rent from  the  tenth  century  to  the  time  of  Edward  III,  1327-1377. 

3"That  the  display  of  Armorial  bearings  is  a  matter  of  the  law 
of  the  land  in  addition  to  conformity  to  heraldic  regulations,  may 
not  be  generally  known.  In  obedience  to  the  Royal  Commission, 
the  right  is  clearly  laid  down  and  exists  at  the  present  day  under 
as  well-defined  limits  as  those  which  govern  and  regulate  the  Peer- 
age."— Fairbain's  Crests.     Vol.  I. 

34 


Historical 

ready  referred  to,  was  given  less  than  thirty  years 
later  than  the  Crusade  of  Richard  I. 

Crests  and  mottoes  as  armorial  emblems  were 
introduced  at  a  much  later  period.  Heraldic  au- 
thorities state  that  the  crest  originally  was  the 
special  mark  of  honor  worn  only  by  heroes  of  valor, 
or  those  advanced  to  high  military  authority.  The 
origin  of  the  Coffin  crest — the  Martlett — is  not 
clearly  known.  The  Martlett  is  found  in  old  Nor- 
man French  names  as  ''Merlette."* 

From  the  earliest  records  we  find  that  the  Port- 
ledge  Family  spread  as  its  generations  increased, 
and  other  groups  with  their  distinctive  heads  set- 
tled in  other  parts  of  Devonshire  and  the  adjacent 
county,  some  to  the  west  and  some  to  the  south, 
others  into  Dorset  and  Somerset.  Some  of  these 
branched  off  families  procured  later  additional 
grants  of  Arms  in  which  there  are  differences  or 
variations  in  arrangement  or  combination  from  the 
Arms  of  Portledge  center,  however,  the  chief  points 
are  the  same  unique  bearings — the  bezants  and 
cross-crosslets — and  are  depicted  on  the  escutcheon 
of  all,  proving  that  all  were  from  the  same  root  and 
headed  by  a  common  ancestry.  This  evidence  cor- 
roborates the  statements  made  by  Prince. 


*J.  P.  R.  Blanche,  F.  G.  A.,  1852,  in  his  "Pursuivant  of  Arms 
or  Heraldry  Founded  on  Fact,"  says : — "It  has  been  attributed  with 
the  almost  general  consent  of  every  rational  writer  on  the  subject 
of  heraldry,  that  the  use  of  Arms  was  adopted  because  of  the  neces- 
sity for  distinguishing  the  principal  leaders  during  the  Crusades; 
however,  devices  and  cognizances  had  at  an  earlier  period  been  in 
use  among  the  Normans." 

35 


Coffin 

The  armorial  bearings  adorning  the  pulpit  of 
the  Church  of  Saint  Andrew,  Alwington  Parish 
Church,  are  five  cross-crosslets  and  one  bezant 
placed  in  the  form  of  a  Latin  cross. 

The  Family  in  South  Devonshire  from  which 
the  American  Coffins  descended,  bear  the  same  em- 
blazement  upon  the  escutcheon:  three  bezants  and 
five  cross-crosslets.  This  is  clear  evidence  and  casts 
no  uncertain  light  upon  the  fact  of  the  direct  des- 
cent of  the  American  Coffins  from  the  ancient  Port- 
ledge  Family.^ 

From  the  first  conquest  of  Palestine  the  Anglo- 
Norman  population  of  Devon  appears  to  have  been 
inspired  with  a  passion  to  keep  open  the  Christian 
privilege  of  making  pious  pilgrimages  to  the  Holy 
Sepulchre.  We  have  some  evidence  that  the  hearts 
of  some  of  these  had  been  reached  by  the  preaching 
of  Peter  the  Hermit  and  in  response  to  the  call  of 
the  Roman  Pontiff  they  joined  the  valorous  knights 
and  gentry  and  the  hordes  of  yeomen  who  entered 
the  army  of  the  Cross. 

Among  the  subsequent  crusades  towards  the 
close  of  the  twelfth  century,  was  one  of  which  Rich- 
ard I  of  England  was  a  chief,  and  another  later  in 
which  Edward  I  (1340)  took  leading  part,  during 


^The  Editor  has  in  her  possession  a  plate  of  the  Coffin  Coat-of 
Arms  presented  to  her  by  the  late  J.  R.  P.  Coffin  of  Portledge 
Manor;  also  a  copy  of  the  Arms  carved  on  the  pulpit  of  Alwington 
Church,  also  those  of  Sir  John  Coffin,  drawn  from  the  original 
on  his  tomb  while  on  a  visit  at  Portledge. — M.  C.  J. 

36 


Historical 

which  time  "England  and  Normandy  were  in  close 
accord"  in  the  last  effort  to  rescue  the  sacred  tomb. 

That  there  were  those  of  the  Anglo-Norman 
Coffins  who  marched  with  the  crusading  hosts  to 
the  rescue  of  the  Holy  Sepulchre,  is  fairly  well  au- 
thenticated; we  have  no  means  of  learning,  how- 
ever, which  particular  Crusade  they  entered,  or 
with  how  many  Crusaders  they  took  part.  J.  R. 
Pine  Coffin,  the  late  lord  of  Portledge  Manor,  ex- 
plained to  the  writer  that  the  symbol  meaning  of 
the  cross-crosslets  emblazoned  on  the  shield  of  the 
Coffin  Arms  which  decorate  the  pulpit  of  Alwing- 
ton  Church  and  elsewhere,  was  adopted  by  the  an- 
cestors in  commemoration  of  the  Crusaders  who 
went  out  from  Portledge  with  the  Flag  bearers 
who  carried  the  religious  symbol  of  their  Christian 
faith. 

Among  the  ancient  monuments  in  the  church- 
yard are  to  be  seen  very  ancient  massive  stones  mu- 
tilated and  defaced  by  the  storms  of  centuries. 
These  stones  bear  the  earliest  rude  design  of  the 
Roman  cross  of  the  Crusaders.  We  were  told  that 
we  are  justified  in  believing  these  were  to  commem- 
orate the  crusader  or  his  direct  descendant. 

All  the  available  records  of  the  Coffin  Family 
yet  discovered  are  silent  as  to  the  period  when  the 
Coffins  of  Portledge  Manor  and  Alwington  Parish 
departed  from  the  old  faith  of  their  forefathers 
who  for  centuries  had  been  true  adherents  to  the 
Church  of  Rome  and  became  allied  with  the  Eng- 
lish Protestant  Church. 

17 


Coffin 

There  is  no  reasonable  doubt  but  the  occupants 
of  Portledge  acquiesced  in  form  of  worship  if  not 
in  spirit,  and  earnestly  supported  the  measures  and 
policies  of  their  then  reigning  King  Henry  VIII. 
A  story  is  told  of  Sir  William  Coffin's  high  spirit 
and  independent  action  of  the  Church  when  he  in- 
fringed upon  it  rules  in  accord  with  the  policy  of 
his  king  relative  to  the  mortuary  fees  exacted  by 
the  clergy.  As  early  as  the  year  1529,  the  year  he 
was  knighted,  he  treated  a  priest  with  arbitrary 
power  at  the  grave  of  a  poor  man. 

There  are  many  evidences  given  that  Sir  Will- 
iam Coffin  had  found  entrance  at  Court  and  was  in 
a  high  degree  of  favor  which  would  naturally  lead 
both  his  brother,  Sir  Richard,  High  Sheriff,  who 
was  at  the  time  the  head  of  Portledge  House,  and 
himself  to  finally  sever  allegiance  with  the  Roman 
Catholic  Church.  In  1536  the  suppression  of  all  the 
monastic  houses  in  England  took  place.  Among 
these  was  the  great  Tavistock  Abbey,  adjacent  to 
the  Portledge  lands,  with  its  large  holdings  and 
rich  endowments.  The  Abbey  was  peopled  by  the 
Dominican  or  Black  Friar  Monks.  It  was  founded 
by  the  Saxons,  961,  and  had  stood  an  important 
center  in  Devon  for  more  than  six  centuries.  Port- 
ledge House  had  been  intimately  connected  with  the 
Abbey,  having  since  the  early  history  of  the  Manor 
had  by  stipulated  contract  with  the  Abbot,  the  priv- 
ilege of  a  monk  for  religious  services  in  the  house- 
hold. 

38 


Men  of  Note 

In  following  down  the  currents  of  history 
through  the  passing  centuries,  we  find  notable  char- 
acters of  distinction  bearing  the  names,  titles  and 
Arms  of  Coffin  prominent  in  the  activities  of  the 
times  in  which  they  lived. 

KNIGHTS  WHO  WENT  OUT  FROM   PORTLEDGE  MANOR 

Sir  Richard  Coffin,  Knight, 

In  the  reign  of  Henry  II.    1154-1189. 
Sir  Richard  Coffin,  Knight, 

Reign  of  Henry  III.    1216-1277 
Sir  Richard  Coffin,  Knight, 

Reign  of  Edward  I.    1272-1307 
Sir  Richard  Coffin,  Knight, 

Reign  of  Henry  IV.    1399-1413 
Sir  William  Coffin,  Knight, 

Reign  of  Henry  VIII.    1509-1547 

OTHER   HOUSES   OF   DEVON 

Sir  Elias  Coffin  of  Coffin- Wells, 

Reign  of  King  John,  1189-1216 
Sir  Geoffrey  Coffin  of  Comb-Coffin, 

Reign  of  King  Henry  III.    1216-1277 
Sir  Hugo  Coffin  of  Comb-Coffin, 

Reign  of  King  Henry  III.    1216-1277. 
Sir  Richard  Coffin  of  Portledge  Manor  was  ap- 
pointed High  Sheriff'  of    Devonshire    the    second 
year  of  the  reign  of  King  Henry  VIII,  1511. 

39 


Coffin 

Sir  William  Coffin,  a  younger  brother  of  the 
above  Sir  Richard,  was  born  early  in  the  sixteenth 
century  at  Portledge  Manor.  As  has  been  already 
stated,  he  enjoyed  among  the  noblemen  and  gentle- 
men at  Court,  a  high  degree  of  favor  of  King 
Henry  VIII,  and  was  evidently  not  outside  of  the 
usual  strict  barriers  and  restraints  of  the  rules  of 
chivalry  in  relation  to  his  king.  He  was  much  given 
to  field  sports  and  rural  pastimes  in  the  royal  for- 
ests, and  appears  to  have  been  closely  associated 
with  his  sport-loving,  jovial  liege  lord  in  the  prac- 
tice of  military  maneuvers,  the  pomp  of  the  tourna- 
ment and  the  exercise  of  falconry,  a  sport  reserved 
in  those  old  days  almost  wholly  for  the  nobles  and 
dominant  class. 

He  was  a  prominent  participator  in  the  Field  of 
the  Cloth  of  Gold,  being  a  member.  He  received 
the  high  honor  of  being  appointed  by  his  king  Mas- 
ter of  the  Horse  at  the  coronation  of  Queen  Anne 
Boleyn,  1532.  He  was  High  Steward  of  all  the 
Manor  and  Liberties  of  Standon  in  the  County  of 
Hereford.  He  died  December  8th,  1538.  His  tomb 
is  still  to  be  seen  in  the  parish  church  at  Standon, 
bearing  a  quaint  inscription.  At  his  death.  Sir 
William  bequeathed  his  best  horses  and  finest 
hawks  to  his  royal  friend,  the  king.  His  estates  and 
all  other  of  his  property  in  North  Devon  he  devised 
to  his  elder  brother.  Sir  Richard  of  Portledge. 

As  the  family  spread,  some  are  found  in  Dor- 
set and  Somerset  Counties  adjoining  Devonshire 

40 


Historical 

and  in  the  same  Diocese  as  Exeter,  bearing  the 
Portledge  Arms  of  Coffin. 

"Reverend  Edward  S.  Coffin,  a  native  of  Ex- 
eter, an  alumnus  of  the  English  College  at  Rome  in 
1588,  ten  years  later  while  engaged  as  a  mis- 
sionary in  England  enlisted  under  the  banner  of 
Saint  Ignatius.  His  zealous  exertions  procured  for 
him  the  honor  of  becoming  the  'Vinctus  Christi.' 
From  the  tower  of  London  he  was  removed  to 
Framingham  Castle ;  but  shortly  after  the  accession 
of  King  James  I,  imprisonment  was  commuted  into 
perpetual  banishment.  Proceeding  to  Rome,  he 
filled  the  office  of  Confessor  in  the  English  College 
for  nearly  twenty  years.  He  quitted  the  eternal 
city  for  the  purpose  of  revisiting  his  native  coun- 
try, but  fell  ill  at  Saint  Omers  and  there  expired 
April  17,  1625,  leaving  behind  him  the  reputation 
of  great  learning,  singular  discretion  and  unaf- 
fected piety.  He  was  the  author  of  several  publica- 
tions."^ 

Edward  (Hatton)  Coffin,  a  Jesuit  writer, 
1570.^ 

Bishop  Robert  Coffin'  of  the  County  of  Som- 
erset.* 

Humphrey  Coffin,  recusant,  of  the  Parish  of 
Wambrook,  Dorset,  had  his  old  rents  and  his  lands 
valued  in  1641  at  £30  per  annum  sequestered. 


^History  of  the  Catholic  Religion,  p.  266. 
^Catholic  Encyclopedia,  Vol.  IV. 
^Biographical  Dictionary  of  English  Catholics. 
*Catholic   Encyclopedia,   Vol.   IV. 

41 


Coffin 

John  Coffin  of  the  same  parish  had  his  farm 
valued  at  £45  per  annum  sequestered. 

The  above  family  of  Coffin  descended  from 
Thorne  Coffin  of  the  County  of  Somerset  where 
they  settled  in  the  reign  of  Edward  II,  1307-1327.' 
The  family  bore  on  its  Arms  three  bezants  and  five 
cross-crosslets,  the  same  as  the  Portledge  Arms.^ 

Charles  Coffin,  born  at  Buzancy,  Ardennes,  in 
1676,  was  Principal  of  the  College  Beauvais  in 
Paris,  then  Rector  of  the  university  in  1718.  He 
published  in  1727  a  volume  of  Latin  poetry  (Poe- 
sies Latines)  in  which  it  may  be  especially  re- 
marked was  an  ode  full  of  nerve  and  spirit  on  the 
Champagne  wine.  He  also  composed  hymns  that 
belong  to  the  Brevissire  de  Paris.  He  died  in  Paris 
1749.' 

Carolus  Coffin,  Professor  in  Collegio  Dormans 
Bellovaco.    Translator  of  many  works.  1707-1712. 

Sir  Thomas  Aston  Coffin,  Comptroller  General 
of  Army  accounts  to  His  Majesty's  Forces  serving 
in  British  North  America,  Quebec,  during  the  War 
of  the  Revolution.  A  letter  dated  September  11th, 
1799,  addressed  to  Thomas  Aston  Coffin  on  receiv- 
ing his  appointment  from  His  Royal  Highness,  Ed- 
ward, Duke  of  Kent,  General  commanding  His 
Majesty's  Forces  in  lower  Canada  contains  the 
following : — 


"History  and  Antiquities  of  County  of  Devon.    Hutchins,  Vol. 
II,  p.   151. 

^French   Encyclopedia. 
■^French  Encyclopedia. 

42 


Historical 

"Permit  me  to  assure  you  of  the  satisfaction  I  feel  at 
the  prospect  of  having-  so  able  an  Assistant  as  you,  and 
that  I  shall  experience  a  very  sincere  pleasure  in  shaking 
you  again  by  the  hand.^ 

Truly  and  faithfully  yours, 

(Signed)   Edward." 

Pierre  Emile  Coffin.  Author  of  a  highly  valued 
French  Medical  work,  printed  in  Paris,  1839. 

Robert  Aston  Coffin.  Translations  from  Al- 
phonso  Maria  de  Liguori,  1854.  A  devotion  in 
honor  of  Saint  Joseph;  hymns  and  verses;  1860. 

Albert  Isaiah  Coffin.  Botanical  and  medical 
works,  some  of  which  reached  the  thirty-sixth  edi- 
tion, 1846-1866.^ 

Sir  Isaac  Coffin,  Bart.,  was  born  in  Boston, 
Massachusetts,  May  16,  1759.  He  was  the  son  of 
Nathaniel  Coffin,  a  descendant  of  Tristram  Coffin, 
the  first  Coffin  ancestor  who  came  to  America  from 
Brixton,  Devonshire,  England,  1642.  Nathaniel 
Coffin  was  a  Collector  of  His  Majesty's  Customs 
for  the  port  of  Boston.  His  son  was  placed  in  the 
Royal  Navy  at  fourteen  years  of  age  and  remained 
at  sea  in  constant  service  of  His  Majesty  till  1798. 
Standing  on  his  own  worth  and  well  deserved  merit 
serving  on  different  ships,  his  promotions  followed 
successively.    In  1778  he  had  performed  his  duties 


^Taken  from  the  original  letter  by  kind  permission  of  Henry 
I.  Morgan,  Esquire,  Barrister  at  Law,  at  Ottawa. 

^There  are  thirty-one  works,  poetry,  devotional,  botanical,  med- 
ical, law  and  history,  written  or  edited  by  Coffins  in  the  printed 
book  section  of  the  British  Museum,  London.— M.  C.  J. 

43 


Coffin 

with  such  bravery  that  he  reached  the  rank  of  Lieu- 
tenant after  being  engaged  in  severe  action  with 
the  French  fleet.  In  1782  he  was  named  Master  and 
Commander  of  one  of  His  Majesty's  war  ships  and 
in  1793,  at  the  outbreak  of  the  French  war,  he  was 
appointed  Commander  of  the  Melampus,  a  ship  of 
thirty-six  guns.  In  1804  he  was  advanced  to  the 
rank  of  Rear  Admiral  and  on  May  19th  of  the  same 
year,  in  recognition  of  his  tireless  energy  and  his 
long  and  honorable  service,  he  received  the  distinc- 
tion of  being  advanced  to  the  dignity  of  a  Baronet 
of  the  United  Kingdom,  and  also  was  granted  a 
Coat  of  Arms.   In  1814  he  was  appointed  Admiral. 

While  in  the  service  of  the  Royal  Navy  he 
formed  a  personal  friendship  with  the  Duke  of 
Clarence,  afterward  William  IV,  who  later  on  gave 
him  many  favors.  Having  crossed  the  Atlantic 
many  times  to  Canada  with  his  different  ships.  Sir 
Isaac  was  attracted  to  the  group  of  Magdalen 
Islands  in  the  Gulf  of  St.  Lawrence,  with  their  val- 
uable fisheries,  and  he  petitioned  the  government  to 
secure  them.  Having  the  good  will  of  the  Powers, 
he  received  favorable  action  on  his  proposal,  and 
letters  patent  were  confirmed  to  him  in  1793.  He 
held  the  Islands  till  his  death.  The  largest  of  the 
group,  twenty-five  miles  in  length,  was  known  for 
well  nigh  a  century  as  ''Coffin's  Island."  By  his 
will,  the  Islands  were  entailed  on  members  of  his 
family. 

Though  Sir  Isaac  had  been  many  times  to  the 
44 


Historical 

Canadian  coast,  the  far  away  years  from  his  young 
childhood  had  almost  entirely  separated  him  from 
his  native  state  as  well,  perhaps,  as  the  long  period 
of  the  War  of  the  Revolution  in  which  he  faith- 
fully served  Great  Britain  against  the  American 
Colonies:  yet  he  never  forgot  his  early  boyhood 
home.  In  1827  he  again  visited  Boston  and  also 
visited  the  Island  of  Nantucket,  the  home  of  his  an- 
cestors. While  on  Nantucket,  he  received  the  pro- 
ject of  endowing  a  school  which  "should  forever 
bear  his  name  and  be  consecrated  to  the  use  of  the 
descendants  of  the  common  ancestry  of  the  Coffin 
race."  For  this  object  he  gave  a  liberal  amount  of 
money  for  those  times, — £2500  in  English  funds. 
The  school  was  opened  the  same  year,  1827,  with 
two  hundred  and  thirty  pupils  in  attendance.  It 
still  lives  a  thriving  institution  showing,  through 
the  earnest  efforts  of  Elizabeth  R.  Coffin  of  Nan- 
tucket and  others,  a  growth  in  usefulness  and  in 
added  endowment  and  equipment  as  the  progress 
of  the  century  had  required. 

In  personality.  Sir  Isaac  had  a  forceful  and  vig- 
orous distinctiveness  of  manner,  and  was  some- 
what eccentric.  His  biographers  state  that  in  man- 
ners he  bore  the  rough  ways  of  many  men  whose 
lives  have  been  spent  almost  wholly  at  sea. 

He  died  June  23,  1839,  at  Cheltenham,  Eng- 
land. 

General  John  Coffin,  third  son  of  Nathaniel 
Coffin — Cashier  of  Customs,  Boston,  and  a  brother 

45 


Coffin 

of  Admiral  Sir  Isaac  Coffin.  Born  1756;  died  1838. 
Fought  with  the  British  at  Bunker  Hill  through- 
out the  Revolutionary  and  1812  Wars.  His  prop- 
erty having  been  confiscated,  he  was  reimbursed 
by  large  grants  of  land  in  New  Brunswick,  which 
afterwards  became  valuable. 

General  Guy  Carleton  Coffin  born  1783,  died 
1856 — eldest  son  of  Genl.  John,  was  a  general  of- 
ficer in  the  Royal  Artillery. 

Admiral  John  Townsend  Coffin,  born 

died .    Second  son  of  Genl.  John,  was  made  a 

Rear  Admiral  1841.  He  inherited,  under  entail 
created  by  Admiral  Sir  Isaac  Coffin,  the  Magdalen 
Islands  in  the  Gulf  of  St.  Lawrence. 

Admiral  Henry  Edward  Coffin,  born ;  died 

.   Third  son  of  Genl.  John,  was  made  a  Rear 

Admiral  in  1856. 

Admiral  Francis  Holmes  Coffin,  R.  N.  born 
;died  1835. 

General  Sir  Isaac  Tristram  Coffin,  K.  C.  Star 

of  India,  born ;  died    October,    1872.    Eldest 

son  of  Admiral  Francis  Holmes. 

Lieutenant  Colonel  William  Foster  Coffin,  born 
;  died  1878.  Sheriff  of  District  of  Montreal- 
later  Commissioner  of  Ordnance  and  Admiralty 
lands  Department  of  Interior,  Canada. 

J.  Richard  Pine  Coffin,  late  lord  of  Portledge 
Manor,  was  born  in  1842.  He  succeeded  this  his- 
toric family  seat  on  the  death  of  his  Father,  the 
Reverend    Prebendary    Pine    Coffin  in  1861.    He 

46 


Historical 

early  entered  a  military  career  in  the  British  Army 
and  rose  to  the  rank  of  Colonel.  During  the  Civil 
War  in  the  United  States  when  England  appeared 
on  the  brink  of  hostilities,  Mr.  Pine  Coffin  was  or- 
dered to  Canada  with  his  regiment,  Her  Majesty's 
Sixteenth  Foot,  and  was  for  some  time  encamped 
opposite  Niagara  Falls  on  the  Canada  side,  fully 
equipped  and  kept  on  the  alert  ready  for  encounter 
with  our  Northern  forces,  awaiting  the  war-cloud 
to  burst.  Happily  the  day  never  came  to  pass. 

In  1865  Mr.  Pine  Coffin  married  Matilda  Speke 
of  Jordans,  Somerset,  a  sister  of  Captain  John 
Hanning  Speke  of  Her  Majesty's  Indian  Army,  the 
discoverer  of  the  source  of  the  Nile.  They  were  the 
parents  of  twelve  children. 

Mr.  Pine  Coffin  was  the  eldest  son  of  the  Rev- 
erend Prebendary  Coffin,  Rector  of  Alwington 
Parish  Church,  and  on  succeeding  to  the  Portledge 
estates,  he  in  time  retired  from  the  Army.  He  took 
active  part  in  practical  politics.  As  a  politician  he 
was  a  stanch  Conservative.  Upon  the  formation  of 
the  Bideford  Conservative  Association  for  the  Di- 
vision, he  was  elected  President.  Two  years  later 
he  was  made  President  of  the  Central  Association 
for  the  Division,  also  was  President  of  the  Bide- 
ford Liberal  and  Radical  Association,  and  of  the 
Barnstable  Division  Liberal  Association.  He  was 
Ruling  Councillor  of  the  Bideford  Iddesleigh  Hab- 
itation of  the  Primrose  League,  and  Vice-President 
of  the  Bideford  Board  of  Guardians,  an  official  of 

47 


Coffin 

the  Appledore  Conservative  Association  and  the 
Working-Men's  Conservative  Association.  Mr. 
Pine  Coffin  was  a  member  of  the  County  Council 
(Devon)  the  Earl  of  Morley  President,  also  was 
on  the  Northern  Local  Board.  He  was  Justice  of 
the  Peace  and  the  Deputy  Lieutenant  of  Devon,  at 
which  he  was  distinguished  at  the  Quarter  Sessions 
for  speaking  with  the  frankness  of  his  nature  from 
knowledge  and  ability.  As  a  Magistrate  he  was 
spoken  of  as  a  ''model."  At  his  death,  the  Bide- 
ford  Weekly  Gazette  in  its  editorial  said: — 

"He  possessed  great  ability  and  his  mind  was  of  a 
decisive  mould.  He  was  the  soul  of  honour,  and  his  evi- 
dent integrity  of  purpose  and  singleness  of  mind,  com- 
bined with  his  sound  judgment  and  remarkable  readiness 
to  spend  and  to  be  spent  in  the  service  of  his  fellows,  made 
him  not  only  a  man  much  sought  after,  but  one  whose 
opinion,  when  obtained,  carried  with  it  the  weight  of  one 
who  spoke  with  authority." 

Mr.  Pine  Coffin  was  long  an  outstanding  figure 
in  the  County  of  Devonshire.  His  real  distinction 
was  his  strong  and  genuine  character.  He  was  re- 
garded in  all  circles  as  a  man  of  the  highest  qual- 
ity. He  was  resolute  in  what  he  thought  was  right. 
His  temperament  was  to  see  the  best  side  of  human 
nature.  He  never  seemed  to  forget  that  the  fashion 
of  men's  hearts  are  alike,  and  this  virtue  made  him 
a  link  between  the  upper  or  gentry  class  of  Eng- 
land and  the  common  trades  people,  and  the  work- 
ing class,  mingling  in  the  social  orders  of  men 
with  those  of  lesser  rank  than  himself  with  an  at- 

48 


Historical 

titude  entirely  void  of  pride  or  condescension.  He 
gave  himself  unsparingly  to  the  objects  and  inter- 
ests of  the  organizations  to  which  he  belonged, 
studied  the  welfare  of  his  fellow  men,  and  prac- 
ticed a  real  fellowship  with  them. 

As  to  his  personal  characteristics,  Mr.  Pine 
Coffin's  home  life  with  his  large  family  of  children 
was  familiar  and  happy.  He  was  a  man  of  culture 
and  refined  tastes,  a  typical  English  gentleman. 
His  fine  stature,  six  feet,  three  inches,  bore  in 
countenance  an  affable  expression  and  an  easy, 
dignified  manner. 

At  his  death,  which  took  place  suddenly,  March 
16th,  1890,  in  the  forty-ninth  year  of  his  age,  the 
whole  country  round  about  mourned  his  loss.  The 
daily  journals  of  Exeter,  and  the  Bideford  Gazette, 
devoted  columns  expressing  the  universal  sorrow 
and  the  irreparable  loss  sustained  by  his  lamented 
death.  On  the  day  of  the  funeral,  all  the  business 
places  in  Bideford  closed  their  shutters  and  drew 
down  their  shades,  and  the  flags  were  at  half  mast. 
In  the  evening  the  church  bells  were  tolled.  The 
interment  took  place  in  the  sacred  historic  resting 
place  of  the  Coffins  of  centuries  past  at  Alwington 
Church  on  the  Portledge  estate.  The  ancient  bells 
of  the  Church  rang  a  muffied  peal. 

Tristram  Coffin  (8th  generation  from  Tris- 
tram) a  son  of  Alexander  Coffin  of  Poughkeepsie, 
New  York,  was  a  successful  lawyer  of  Poughkeep- 
sie, for  a  long  period  District  Attorney  of  Dutchess 

49 


Coffin 

County,  New  York,  and  Executor  and  Trustee  of 
many  estates. 

He  has  traveled  extensively,  is  the  author  of  a 
number  of  books  and  a  frequent  contributor  to 
periodicals  and  magazines.  He  is  a  well  known  col- 
lector of  antiques,  autographs  and  manuscripts  of 
historical  characters.  His  interest  in  the  family 
was  intense,  and  to  him  we  are  indebted  for  much 
of  the  data  relating  to  the  family,  which  has  been 
collected.  His  article  'The  First  Tristram  Coffin 
of  Nantucket"  which  appeared  in  the  American 
Historical  Record  of  Philadelphia  for  January, 
1871,  was  probably  the  inspiration  of  the  Coffin 
Family  Reunion  at  Nantucket  in  1881. 

While  attending  this  Reunion  he  purchased  the 
old  Coffin  house  (known  also  as  the  ''Horseshoe 
House"  and  the  "J^^hro  Coffin  house")  which  was 
erected  in  1868  by  Peter,  son  of  the  first  Tristram 
for  his  son  Jethro.  This,  the  oldest  building  on  the 
island,  he  had  restored  and  ultimately  turned  it 
over  to  the  Nantucket  Historical  Society. 

Governor  O.  Vincent  Coffin  (8th  generation 
from  Tristram)  was  born  in  Dutchess  County, 
New  York,  in  1836,  a  son  of  Alexander  Coffin  of 
Poughkeepsie,  New  York. 

In  1864  he  removed  to  Middletown,  Connecti- 
cut, and  during  a  period  of  thirty  years  held  a 
score  of  public  offices  and  political  positions,  serv- 
ing as  Treasurer  of  the  Savings  Bank,  President 
of  the  Agricultural  Society,  The  Mutual  Fire  In- 

50 


Historical 

surance  Company  and  the  Y.  M.  C.  A.,  and  as  a 
Director  of  the  First  National  Bank.  For  two 
terms  as  Mayor  of  the  City.  For  three  terms  as 
State  Senator,  and  in  1894  as  Governor  of  the 
State  of  Connecticut. 

He  died  January  3rd,  1921. 
Levi  Coffin'  Levi'  William'  and    therefore    a 
cousin  once  removed  from  Charles  F.  Coffin,  was 
born  at  New  Garden,  Guilford  County,  North  Car- 
olina, in  1795. 

While  quite  a  boy  he  was  so  impressed  by  the 
gross  abuse  of  slaves  that  he  determined  to  devote 
himself  to  the  cause  of  the  helpless  and  at  the  age 
of  seventeen  commenced  those  efforts  to  aid  the 
escape  of  negroes  from  slavery,  which  he  followed 
for  fifty  years,  and  of  which  he  quaintly  said  he 
''would  still  be  engaged  in  it  had  not  Abraham 
Lincoln  broken  up  the  business  by  Proclamation  in 
1863." 

While  in  North  Carolina,  assisted  by  his  cousin 

Vestal,  he  concealed  and  fed  many  fugitive  negroes. 

In  1821  he  assisted  his  cousin  Elijah  Coffin  in 

starting  the  first  Sabbath  School  among  Friends 

in  America. 

In  the  Fall  of  1822  he  removed  to  Wayne 
County,  Indiana,  where  twenty  years  of  his  life 
was  spent. 

Marrying  Catharine  White,  he  located  at  New- 
port, a  small  village  in  Wayne  County,  where  he 
attained   much   influence   and   prominence   in   the 

51 


Coffin 

community,  serving  for  several  years  as  Director 
in  the  Richmond  branch  of  the  State  Bank,  and 
other  positions  of  prominence. 

During  his  residence  at  Newport  his  house  was 
the  main  station  of  what  was  then  called  the 
"Underground  Railroad"  of  which  he  was  styled 
the  President.  Near  this  place  is  laid  part  of  the 
scene  of  Uncle  Tom's  Cabin.^  Eliza  Harris  was 
sheltered  under  his  roof  for  several  days,  and  the 
characters  of  Simeon  and  Rachael  Halliday  are 
said  to  have  been  taken  from  Levi  and  Catharine 
Coffin. 

Once  on  being  brought  before  the  Grand  Jury 
by  a  well  known  pro-slavery  man,  he  evaded  the 
charge,  to  the  great  amusement  of  all  present,  by 
stating  that  a  "great  number  had  been  sheltered 
at  his  house  who  claimed  to  be  slaves  but  the  laws 
of  Indiana  did  not  admit  colored  evidence  and  con- 
sequently he  supposed  they  were  not  to  be  believed." 

In  1847  at  the  solicitation  of  a  number  of  prom- 
inent anti-slavery  men,  he  removed  to  Cincinnati 
and  took  charge  of  a  Free  Labor  store,  to  supply 
dealers  who  would  not  handle  articles  produced  by 
slave  labor. 

About  1851  he  retired  from  mercantile  life,  and 
until  the  passage  of  the  Emancipation  Proclama- 
tion, devoted  his  entire  energies  to  aiding  fugitive 
slaves. 

While  living  in  Newport  the  annual  average  of 


^Harriet  Beecher  Stowe's  novel. 

52 


Historical 

fugitive  slaves  assisted  in  their  flight  was  106  and 
while  in  Cincinnati  189.  The  total  number  who 
through  his  efforts  escaped  slavery  was  about  3300. 

For  thi:ee  years  after  the  passage  of  the  Emanci- 
pation Proclamation  his  life  was  devoted  to  the 
care  of  liberated  slaves  who  were  left  destitute 
and  without  employment. 

He  was  delegated  by  the  ''Western  Freedmans 
Aid  Association"  to  visit  England,  where  he  met 
with  great  success  and  was  the  recipient  of  many 
honors. 

He  was  one  of  the  outstanding  figures  of  the 
Abolition  movement,  and  his  character  was  very 
remarkable  for  his  steady  perseverance  in  the  great 
object  of  his  life,  the  amelioration  of  the  condition 
of  the  slave  and  the  overthrow  of  slavery. 

He  died  in  Cincinnati  in  1877. 


53 


CHARLES  R  COFFIN 

A  QUAKER  PIONEER 


Born  in  Guilford  County,  North  Carolina, 
Fourth  month  3rd,  1823. 

Died  at  Chicago,  Ninth  Month  9th,  1916. 


Resident — one  and  one-half  years  in  North  Carolina; 
sixty  years  in  Indiana;  two  years  in  London,  England; 
thirty  years  in  Chicago. 

1857-1885  Clerk  to  Indiana  Yearly  Meeting  of  the 
Religious  Society  of  Friends. 

1885-1916  Member  of  Chicago  Monthly  Meeting  of 
Friends. 

1866-1916  An  acknowledged  minister  in  the  Religious 
Society  of  Friends. 

1867-1880  First  President.  Board  of  Control  of  the 
Indiana  House  of  Refuge  for  Juvenile 
Offenders. 


HIS  CHURCHLY  PERIOD 
I 

Charles  Fisher  Coffin  was  born  on  the  third 
day  of  April,  1823,  in  a  log  cabin  located  in  Guil- 
ford County,  North  Carolina,  within  one-half  mile 
of  the  present  Guilford  College. 

His  parents  were  Elijah  Coffin  and  Naomi 
Hiatt  Coffin,  both  of  whom  were  devout  members 
of  the  Religious  Society  of  Friends.  His  paternal 
ancestors  for  four  generations  had  been  either 
over-seers,  elders  or  ministers  in  the  Society. 

At  the  time  of  his  birth  Elijah  Coffin,  his  father, 
was  clerk  to  North  Carolina  Yearly  Meeting.  He 
supported  himself  by  school  teaching  and  farming. 
His  mother,  Naomi  Coffin,  was  a  fine  type  of  re- 
ligious mystic  and  during  her  entire  lifetime, 
equally  with  her  husband,  energetic  in  the  work  of 
the  Society.  She  was  acknowledged  as  a  minister 
in  1846. 

A  vivid  picture  of  this  North  Carolina  commu- 
nity, as  it  appeared  to  the  eyes  of  an  English- 
woman, is  given  in  letters  of  Anna  Braithwaite 
written  to  her  husband  in  England  from  the  home 
of  Nathan  Hunt  (1758-1853)  located  near  New 
Garden,  N.  C,  and  dated  Tenth  Month  27th,  1823, 
and  Eleventh  Month  11th,  1823. 

"After  attending  Deep  River  meeting,  we  came  on 
about  eight  miles  to  this  peaceful  habitation.    We  met  with 

57 


Charles  F.  Coffin 

a  hearty  welcome  from  dear  Nathan  Hunt,  his  wife  and 
family. 

''His  house  is  situated  in  a  paddock,  surrounded  with 
fields  and  skirted  by  woods.  He  has  cleared  as  much  land 
as  supplies  him  with  the  necessaries  of  life,  almost  all  of 
which  are  grown  or  manufactured  under  his  roof.  His 
house  is  built  of  logs,  filled  up  with  plaster,  but  no  coat- 
ing of  plaster  inside,  nor  any  wash  or  paint.  It  consists 
of  five  rooms  downstairs,  a  small  kitchen,  a  room  out  of 
it,  were  the  spinning  wheels,  etc.,  etc.,  are,  a  room  into 
which  we  enter  from  the  front,  perhaps  fourteen  feet  square 
with  a  clean  boarded  floor,  and  a  hearth  fire,  some  clean 
white  wooden  chairs,  and  two  homely  tables,  a  clock,  a 
book-case,  a  stand  dyed  dark  blue,  a  sash  window  with 
twelve  panes  of  glass.  Out  of  this  are  two  lodging  rooms 
and  a  neat  little  pantry.  Our  room  has  two  beds  in  it ;  clean 
and  homely  curtains  of  their  own  weaving;  feather  beds, 
clean  coarse  sheets  and  a  warm  sort  of  quilt,  made  of 
cloth,  flannel,  etc.,  patched  together,  instead  of  a  blanket, 
and  a  nice  white  cotton  counterpane. 

"In  the  roof,  there  are,  I  believe,  two  bedrooms,  and 
every  place  is  so  clean  that  one  forgets  the  unfinished  walls 
and  rustic  furniture. 

"I  wish  I  could  now,  whilst  I  am  writing,  convey  to  thee 
the  sweet  calm  influence  all  around,  and  at  the  same  time 
give  thee  a  picture  of  the  twelve  light  window  by  which  I 
write,  the  unfinished  log  walls,  filled  up  between  the  logs 
with  plaster  without  either  wash  or  paint,  the  brick  chimney 
bare  as  our  outside  walls,  the  hearth  fire  without  any  fen- 
der, the  ceiling  formed  merely  of  the  boards  which  are  the 
flooring  of  the  room  above,  without  any  further  finish,  and 
yet  withal  the  air  of  comfort  which  thorough  cleanliness 
and  as  much  true  refinement  as  I  ever  met  with,  in  every 
branch  of  the  household,  give  to  this  simple  abode. 

"I  have  a  few  specimens  of  their  home  manufactory  for 

58 


His  Churchly  Period 

gowns,  cloaks,  etc.,  which  I  mean  to  send  thee.  They  wear 
scarcely  anything  but  what  they  spin,  weave  and  dye 
themselves.  They  make  their  own  bedsteads.  Their  cur- 
tains, bed-linens,  blankets,  coats,  stockings,  are  all  their 
own  manufacture. 

*T  have  made  myself  quite  at  home  among  them  in  a 
social  way,  and  believe  this  has  contributed  to  make  way 
for  speaking  the  truth  with  boldness  and  meekness.  Every 
house  we  have  been  into  has  a  room  for  carrying  on  these 
different  works.  They  make  all  their  own  candles,  moulds, 
and  dips;  and  though  they  may  be  in  some  instances  de- 
ficient in  book-learning,  their  faculties  are  in  full  operation 
in  a  practical  way. 

'Tt  is  only  eighty  years  since  Carolina  was  first  settled. 
They  have  had  many  difficulties  to  struggle  with,  that  of 
slavery  not  the  least.  They  are  at  a  great  distance  from 
any  seaport  town,  and  land  carriage  is  so  expensive  as  to 
render  it  out  of  their  power  to  procure  what  we  are  apt 
to  think  the  necessaries  of  life. 

"To  proceed  with  my  dairy: — On  the  second  First-Day 
of  the  Yearly  Meeting,  I  attended  New  Garden  meeting, 
I  suppose  there  were  nearly  two  thousand  people.  It  was 
a  striking  sight.  Many  had  come  great  distances.  Some 
hundreds  of  carriages  of  various  descriptions  were  all  tied 
to  trees  in  the  wood  by  which  the  Meeting-house  is  sur- 
rounded. The  meeting  was,  I  think,  a  favoured  season, 
and  it  appeared  to  be  with  reluctance  that  the  people  sep- 
arated after  sitting  nearly  three  hours.  The  practice  of 
bringing  babies  has  been  less  disturbing  to  me  than  I  ex- 
pected. I  suppose  there  were  not  less  than  thirty  infants 
in  the  meeting.  When  the  babies  cry,  the  mothers  usually 
walk  quietly  out  of  the  meeting  with  them.  Many  come 
several  miles  with  their  babies  on  horse  back,  and  have  no 
one  to  leave  them  with;  and  I  cannot  but  think  there  must 
be  some  zeal  to  induce  them  to  come  as  they  do." 

59 


Charles  F.  Coffin 

At  the  meeting  described  Charles  F.  Coffin  was 
present,  a  baby  in  his  mother's  arms;  and  he  was 
to  see  Anna  Braithwaite  again  on  later  visits  and 
to  find  her  son  one  of  his  truest  friends  in  a  later 
period  of  his  long  Hfe. 

In  1811,  Hannah  Symons,  Elijah  Coffin's  old- 
est sister,  and  her  husband,  Thomas  Symons,  had 
"thought  it  right"  to  begin  their  married  life  in  the 
Indiana  Territory,  and  had  journeyed  through  the 
mountains  and  across  the  Ohio  river  until  they 
came  to  Cox's  Settlement,  later  Richmond,  Indi- 
ana, where  they  found  Friends  newly  settled  on 
small  farms.  After  six  months  in  this  settlement 
Thomas  Symons  built  a  little  cabin  in  the  woods 
where  the  little  town  of  Milton,  Indiana,  now 
stands,  and  in  the  dead  of  winter  they  went  there 
to  live.  In  spite  of  cold,  wolves  and  begging  In- 
dians they  were  happy  here,  and  were  greatly  dis- 
tressed when,  on  the  outbreak  of  the  war  of  1812, 
Richmond  Friends  sent  for  them  to  come  to  safer 
quarters  in  the  settlement.  In  1814,  they  rejoiced 
to  be  able  to  return  with  their  two  children  to  the 
farm  and  proceed  with  its  deferred  clearing  and 
planting. 

The  next  year  Hannah  Symons  records  that 
the  country  around  them  began  to  be  thinly  set- 
tled ;  ''my  husband  built  a  mill  before  he  made  much 
farm  and  that  assisted  toward  the  people  coming 
to  settle  around  us;  but  we  could  see  no  one  that 
looked  or  talked  as  we  did."     It  was  a  deep  satis- 

60 


His  Churchly  Period 

faction  to  them  that  Friends  began  thereafter  to 
appear  and  buy  up  the  land,  "so  fast  that  we  had 
an  indulged  meeting  in  our  barn."  Following  a 
visit  of  Hannah  and  Thomas  Symons  to  North 
Carolina  in  1817,  Elijah  Coffin,  the  youngest 
brother  came  to  visit  her  in  her  Indiana  home. 

Charles  F.  Coffin  has  told  the  story  of  that 
visit  and  its  effect  on  his  father's  plans: 

*'In  the  spring  of  1818  my  father,  Elijah  Coffin,  made 
a  journey  on  horseback  from  North  Carolina  to  Indiana 
and  back.  During  this  journey  he  saw  different  parts  of 
the  state  and  looked  from  that  time  towards  removing. 
He  married  two  years  later  and  continued  to  reside  in 
Guilford  county,  North  Carolina,  until  1824,  when  he  says 
in  his  journal :  *My  wife's  father,  Benajah  Hiatt,  having 
determined  to  remove  to  the  western  country  with  his 
family,  we  set  off  together,  leaving  our  native  state  in  the 
eighth  month  of  1824.  We  were  favored  to  reach  the 
neighborhood  of  Milford,  Indiana,  in  about  four  weeks, 
in  which  we  settled,  and  I  took  up  a  school  in  the  village 
of  Milton.' 

They  left  their  native  state  with  regret.  While  the 
soil  in  many  places  had  become  impoverished  it  had  a  de- 
lightful climate  and  beautiful  forests  and  their  friends 
and  associates  of  a  life  time  resided  there ;  but  the  exist- 
ence of  slavery  and  the  consequent  troubles  likely  to  and 
which  did  afterward  arise,  led  them  to  remove  to  a  free 
state. 

My  father  and  mother  at  the  time  had  two  children, 
Miriam  Allinson,  aged  about  three  and  one-half  years, 
and  myself,  aged  about  eighteen  months. 

When  it  was  found  that  they  had  settled  on  removal, 
a  number  of  their  friends  joined  the  party,  which  finally 

61 


Charles  F.  Coffin 

increased,  including  children  and  grown  folks,  to  about 
forty.^  There  were  no  public  conveyances  between  the 
two  states  and  turnpike  roads  were  unknown  at  that  time. 
In  order  to  perform  the  journey  they  procured  two-horse 
wagons  covered  with  white  cotton  cloth  to  protect  them 
from  the  rain  and  weather.  Such  wagons  were  very  fa- 
miliar in  Indiana  a  few  years  later,  1830-40  and  '50,  as 
there  were  large  numbers  of  movers  passing  frequently 
over  the  national  road  from  Ohio  and  Indiana  to  the 
western  states.  They  camped  out  at  night  and  took  with 
them  only  such  bedding,  tents  and  clothing  as  seemed 
essential.  They  had  also  to  provide  articles  of  food  which 
would  supply  them  through  the  journey,  gathering  on  the 
way  additional  provisions  as  they  needed,  for  themselves 
and  their  horses.  They  averaged  probably  twenty  to 
thirty  miles  a  day  and  when  night  came  usually  stopped 
beside  a  stream  where  they  could  obtain  a  supply  of 
water,  erect  their  tents  and  spend  the  night.  They  traA- 
eled  slowly  and  had  frequently  to  double  the  teams ;  that 
is,  taking  four  horses  upon  one  wagon  and  going  back 
for  the  other.  Of  course,  when  able  to  do  it  they  walked ; 
and  I  have  heard  my  aunt,  Esther  Hiatt  (afterwards  Dick- 
inson) who  was  a  young  girl  at  the  time,  tell  of  leading  me 


iThere  were  in  the  company  the  following :  Benajah  Hiatt, 
Elizabeth  Hiatt,  his  wife,  and  their  two  daughters,  Esther  and 
Hannah  Hiatt;  Charity  (Williams)  Hiatt,  mother  of  Benajah 
Hiatt;  Elijah  Coffin,  Naomi  (Hiatt)  Coffin,  his  wife,  and  their 
two  children,  Miriam  Allinson  and  Charles  Fisher;  John  Hiatt, 
Rebecca  Hiatt,  his  wife;  Lydia  Jessup,  a  young  woman  who  was 
brought  up  by  Benajah  and  Elizabeth  Hiatt;  Miriam  Macy,  a  near 
relative;  Driver  Boon,  Anna  Boon,  his  wife,  and  two  children, 
Rachel  and  Rhoda;  Michael  Weasner,  Rebecca  Weasner,  his  wife, 
and  his  four  children,  Michael,  Jr.,  Abigail,  Jonathan  and  Ruth; 
Mrs.  Mendenhall,  mother  of  Rebecca  Weasner;  Isaac  Hodson,  sin- 
gle young  man;  Levi  Bowman,  single  young  man;  Lydia  Gordon, 
single  young  woman;   Miriam   Baldwin,  single  young  woman, 

62 


His  Churchly  Period 

up  the  mountains,  which  of  course  must  have  been  very 
slowly  as  I  was  a  small  child. 

'*It  was  in  many  respects  a  wearisome  way  of  traveling, 
but  had  its  compensations.  They  enjoyed  the  outdoor  life 
and  the  interesting  scenery  through  which  they  passed  and 
when  they  camped  at  night  there  was  quite  a  circle  round 
the  camp-fire  for  enjoyment  and  rest  after  they  had  par- 
taken of  their  evening  meal.  They  took  their  course 
through  western  North  Carolina  and  a  portion  of  Virginia 
to  the  Cumberland  Gap,  through  which  they  passed  into 
the  Blue  Grass  region  of  Kentucky.  Here  they  found  a 
road  which  had  been  traveled  for  many  years,  called  the 
"Wilderness  Road"  upon  which  they  continued  their  jour- 
ney to  the  Ohio  river  and  thence  to  the  village  of  Milton 
in  Wayne  county,  Indiana,  which  was  then  but  a  hamlet 
containing  a  few  log  houses. 

*The  facts  narrated  here  were  gathered  in  conversa- 
tions with  my  parents  and  those  who  accompanied  them." 

Charles  F.  Coffin  quotes  also  the  recollections 
of  his  uncle,  John  Hiatt,  who,  with  his  bride  of  six 
months,  made  part  of  the  caravan. 

"Our  parents  spoke  in  after  life  of  the  toilsome  journey 
over  the  mountains,  and  of  the  grand  wild  scenery.  The 
road,  when  there  was  one  was  exceedingly  poor  and  rough. 
The  trails  were  bad  and  there  were  no  bridges.  They  were 
forced  to  hitch  logs  of  trees  they  cut  by  the  way  for  brakes 
to  the  wagons  when  descending  the  steep  rugged  places. 

"The  few  mountaineers  they  saw  were  living  in  rude 
log  cabins  on  a  low  plane  of  civilization  and  morality, 
steeped  in  ignorance,  shiftless  and  coarse.  Drink  was  the 
prevailing  curse.  They  raised  small  patches  of  barley  and 
Indian  corn,  from  which  they  manufactured  liquors  in  do- 
mestic stills,  erected  on  the  springs,  brooks  and  creeks. 

"With  few  exceptions  these  emigrants  were  all  young 

63 


Charles  F.  Coffin 

active  persons,  enjoying  excellent  health  and  of  good  hab- 
its. They  were  all  members  of  the  Society  of  Friends  and 
many  were  near  kindred.  They  were  a  valuable  addition 
to  the  early  settlement  of  the  then  young  state  of  Indiana." 


64 


II 

Charles  F.  Coffin  himself  has  given  us  a  clear 
account  of  the  Indiana  of  his  earliest  memories. 
He  writes: 

''I  was  brought  by  my  parents  to  Wayne  County  in 
1824.  As  I  was  only  one  year  old,  of  course  I  can  give  no 
personal  recollections  at  that  early  date,  but  I  have  a  very 
distinct  recollection  of  the  latter  part  of  the  period  men- 
tioned in  this  letter   (1824-1834). 

"The  country  was  comparatively  new,  although  settle- 
ments had  been  made  in  most  parts  of  it  and  in  some  places 
for  a  good  many  years.  There  was  a  large  emigration 
from  North  and  South  Carolina,  especially  of  Friends, 
who  settled  in  different  parts  of  the  country,  the  main  body 
of  them  at  Richmond  and  immediate  vicinity;  others  at 
Fountain  City  in  the  north  part  of  the  County;  others  at 
Economy  in  the  northwest  part  of  the  county  and  others 
in  the  neighborhood  of  Milton  in  the  west  part  of  the 
county  and  a  few  in  the  vicinity  of  Centerville  in  the  cen- 
tral part  of  the  county.  Large  improvements  were  estab- 
lished at  all  these  places.  There  was  also  considerable  em- 
igration from  Kentucky  and  Tennessee  which  settled  prin- 
cipally in  the  southeast  and  central  parts  of  the  county. 
Very  few  New  England  or  Eastern  people  were  amongst 
these  early  emigrants. 

'The  country  in  my  first  recollection  was  still  thickly 
wooded  except  small  clearings  around  each  homestead 
and  the  woods  were  grown  up  with  underbrush  and  vines 
of  various  kinds.  The  wild  animals  had  been  largely  ex- 
terminated before  my  recollection  and  there  were  no  In- 
dians in  the  county.     Some  of  them  frequently  visited  the 

65 


Charles  F.  Coffin 

county  in  the  earliest  settlements  but  it  is  not  known  that 
any  of  them  ever  permanently  resided  within  its  limits. 
The  streams  were  nearly  double  the  size  that  they  are  at 
present,  during  most  of  the  year,  large  reservoirs  of  water 
in  the  woods  and  swamps  furnishing  a  continued  supply 
to  keep  their  volume  up.  The  clearing  up  of  the  country 
has  caused  great  change  in  this  respect  and  reduced  the 
size  of  the  streams  most  of  the  year,  but  causes  them  to 
swell  largely  during  freshets  and  heavy  rains. 

'The  houses  of  the  new  settlers  were  of  their  own 
build;  at  first  cabins,  succeeded  then  by  small  hewed  log 
houses  interspersed  occasionally  with  cheap  frame  build- 
ings which  ultimately  took  the  place  of  the  others.  The  first 
settlers  had  very  few  comforts  and  lived  in  an  exceedingly 
rough  and  simple  way,  mostly  upon  pork  and  cornbread, 
as  corn  was  raised  the  first  thing  after  the  clearing  of  a 
piece  of  ground.  Along  all  the  streams  were  soon  built 
small  mills  which  supplied  the  local  demands  of  the  com- 
munity and  also  saw  mills  which  furnished  lumber  for  im- 
provements. 

"There  was  a  vast  amount  of  fine  walnut  timber,  es- 
pecially in  the  bottoms  of  the  west  fork  of  Whitewater 
River,  where  my  father  first  settled,  near  what  is  now  the 
town  of  Milton.  This  timber  was  used  lavishly  because  it 
was  easily  split  into  rails,  and  greatly  wasted.  In  subse- 
quent years  it  became  valuable  and  every  remaining  tree 
was  carefully  protected  until  a  market  was  found  for  it. 

"The  early  settler  was  generally  from  a  young  and 
vigorous  class  of  people,  but  there  was  much  sickness; 
chills  and  severe  fevers  prevailed,  especially  along  the 
water  courses.  There  are  no  records  of  the  mortality  but 
there  is  no  doubt  that  it  was  very  great  and  in  many  in- 
stances great  sufifering  ensued  from  the  want  of  proper 
care,  medical  treatment  and  proper  food.  I  remember  well 
of  hearing  my   father  speak  of   a   severe  attack  of   fever 

66 


His  Churchly  Period 

which  he  had  when  Hving  in  a  cabin  on  the  bank  of  the 
Whitewater  River,  which  came  very  nearly  taking  his  life ; 
and  the  great  difficulty  experienced  by  my  mother  when 
recovery  commenced  in  getting  anything  suitable  for  a 
fever  patient  to  eat. 

"The  difficulty  connected  with  the  terrific  labor  involved 
in  clearing  the  trees  from  a  new  country  and  opening  farms 
was  vigorously  and  cheerfully  met  by  the  settlers.  Great 
personal  kindness  abounded;  they  assisted  each  other  in 
every  way  possible. 

'There  was  a  great  deal  of  traveling  through  the  com- 
munity of  persons  in  search  of  homes.  Hotels  were  scarce 
and  every  private  house  was  opened  freely  to  the  traveler. 
There  were  no  roads  except  as  trees  were  cut  away  by  the 
first  settlers.  The  streams  were  unbridged  and  often  im- 
passable, always  during  a  freshet,  and  as  the  roads  were 
largely  shaded  they  remained  wet  a  great  deal  of  the  year 
and  became  almost  impassable  at  times ;  a  large  proportion 
of  the  time  they  were  muddy  and  disagreeable  to  travel 
over.  There  were  very  few,  if  any,  carriages  in  the  county 
in  these  days ;  the  people  rode  on  horseback,  or  else  in  their 
wagons. 

"During  the  latter  part  of  this  period  the  comforts  of 
the  community  increased ;  farms  became  better  opened  and 
roads  were  somewhat  improved  though  still  very  bad.  Mer- 
chants established  Httle  stores  at  various  points  where  they 
kept  a  few  dry  goods  and  groceries.  Some  of  the  towns 
had  commenced  growing  and  improvements  were  increas- 
ing in  them.  A  few  brick  houses  were  erected,  but  not 
many  until  later.  All  the  groceries  and  dry  goods  used 
had  to  be  hauled  in  wagons  from  Cincinnati,  a  distance  of 
sixty  or  seventy  miles,  and  large  four  horse  wagons  passed 
over  the  route  frequently  occupying  three  or  four  days  in 
the  passage.  Salt  and  other  necessaries  were  brought  in 
the  same  way.     Products  of  the  farms,  such  as  hogs  and 

67 


Charles  F.  Coffin 

cattle,  were  taken  there  to  market.  Cincinnati  was  the  great 
commercial  point  of  the  whole  country. 

'The  mails  were  carried  first  on  horseback,  then  in 
small  wagons  or  carriages;  during  the  muddy  season  they 
were  taken  with  great  difficulty.  Postage  was  from  six 
and  one-quarter  to  twenty-five  cents,  counted  in  Spanish 
coin,  which  was  the  current  coin  of  the  country  at  the  time : 
namely,  6^,  12>^,  and  25  cents;  but  money  was  exceed- 
ingly scarce  and  the  settlers  managed  to  do  with  a  great 
deal  less  than  would  be  thought  possible  at  the  present  time. 

''There  were  different  religious  denominations  which 
mostly  located  by  a  kind  of  natural  affinity  near  to  each 
other;  Methodist,  Baptist,  Presbyterian,  etc.  The  pioneer 
preachers  of  the  county,  however,  were  Methodists  who 
spread  over  the  whole  land.  They  traveled  on  horseback 
and  lived  with  the  people  and  were  indefatigable  in  estab- 
lishing churches  and  elevating  the  people.  Their  influence 
was  exceedingly  good.  In  other  places  where  there  were 
no  special  religious  influences  there  grew  up  a  class  of  peo- 
ple who  disregarded  the  Sabbath,  and  attended  no  place  of 
worship;  and  from  their  children  came  a  very  undesirable 
part  of  the  community. 

"There  were  few  schools  and  no  general  public  school 
system.  A  teacher  was  employed  for  three  months  of  the 
year  and  such  children  as  could  be  spared  from  home  were 
sent  to  him.  The  schools  were  of  a  primitive  kind,  not  of 
the  highest  type,  but  very  useful  in  their  results.  In  the 
neighborhood  of  Friends  it  was  made  a  special  point  to  open 
what  was  called  a  'Friends'  School'  and  such  were  found 
at  all  the  meeting  places  in  the  county." 

The  first  dwelling  of  Elijah  Coffin's  was  a 
small  log  cabin,  but  he  found  this  location,  on  the 
banks  of  the  west  fork  of  the  Whitewater  River, 
too  malarial  for  health,  and  built  a  small  hewed 

68 


His  Churchly  Period 

log  house  on  elevated  ground  a  little  way  from  the 
river.  It  had  but  a  single  room  below  and  an  attic 
which  was  reached  by  a  ladder  in  which  the  chil- 
dren slept. 

After  a  time  he  built  what  was  considered  a 
nice  two-story  frame  house  in  the  center  of  what  is 
now  the  village  of  Milton  and  adjoining  this  home 
he  opened  a  general  store.  He  was  appointed  post- 
master by  President  John  Quincy  Adams  and  the 
Milton  post-office  was  opened  in  the  store.  The 
small  stock  of  goods  which  he  carried  was  pur- 
chased in  Cincinnati  and  conveyed  as  Charles  F. 
Coffin  has  described,  over  the  uncertain  roads  for 
a  distance  of  sixty-five  miles. 

The  country  round  the  village  of  Milton,  set- 
tled by  North  Carolina  Friends,  many  of  whom 
were  relatives  of  the  Coffins,  was  cleared  and  im- 
proved under  their  prudent  and  careful  manage- 
ment. 

A  characteristic  tale  of  the  feeling  of  the  few 
who  were  neither  Quaker  nor  Carolinian  is  given 
by  William  Hiatt  Coffin,  brother  to  Charles  F. 
Coffin,  (born  1825): 

"The  town  of  Milton  was  cut  out  of  the  dense  forest, 
so  dense  that  a  cow  could  easily  be  lost  in  the  thickets  of 
the  underbrush.  The  one  street  in  the  town  was  made  by 
cutting  away  the  underbrush  and  the  largest  trees.  It  was 
full  of  stumps  and  smaller  trees.  Most  of  the  year  it  was 
deep  in  mud. 

"A  store-keeper,  Brown  by  name,  whose  store  was  lo- 
cated at  the  cross-roads,  was  sitting  in  front  of  his  store 

69 


Charles  F.  Coffin 

in  the  hazy  light  of  a  late  October  day,  and  was  surrounded 
by  a  number  of  farmers  who  had  come  in  to  have  their 
corn  ground  at  the  Mill.  The  farmers  had  mostly  come 
from  North  Carolina,  the  store-keeper  from  Maryland ;  and 
he  thought  himself  to  be  of  better  stock  than  the  average 
immigrant  who  traded  at  his  store. 

''Down  this  rough  road,  with  the  forest  trees  overhang- 
ing it,  across  the  divide  two  miles  away,  came  an  immi- 
grant outfit  consisting  of  a  cart  on  two  wheels,  with  a  can- 
vas cover  loaded  to  the  bows  with  household  furniture. 
Attached  to  the  cart  were  two  rough  tired  horses  with  husk 
collars  and  rope  traces.  Behind  the  cart  was  one  cow  led 
by  a  rope  halter.  The  man,  clad  in  butter-nut,  the  woman  in 
linsey-woolsey,  with  their  children,  walked  beside  the  cart, 
as  they  had  done  for  over  five  hundred  miles.  All  were  bare- 
footed. The  man  had  a  long-furred  beaver  hat,  and  the  wo- 
man a  sun-bonnet. 

"As  they  looked  up  and  espied  them,  the  store-keeper 
said  to  the  assembled  farmers :  'There  comes  the  fag  end  of 
creation  from  old  North  Carolina.'  What  was  his  surprise 
to  find  when  the  outfit  pulled  up  in  front  of  his  store,  that 
the  man  was  from  Maryland  and  was  his  own  brother. 

"The  North  Carolinians  naturally  did  not  allow  this 
story  to  be  forgotten." 

There  were  of  course  no  schools  in  this  primi- 
tive land;  for  the  first  two  years  Elijah  Coffin,  an 
experienced  teacher,  taught  his  own  children  and 
those  of  his  neighbors.  Finally  Friends  combined 
and  established  a  school,  inducing  an  English 
Friend,  Robert  Harrison,  then  living  in  Philadel- 
phia, to  come  to  Milton  and  teach  the  children. 
This  school  prospered  and  was  afterwards  placed 
under  the  official  care  of  the  Society,  for  wherever 

70 


His  Churchly  Period 

Friends  went  they  established  their  own  schools. 
The  public  school  system  of  Indiana  was  not  es- 
tablished until  1851,  and  these  schools,  evidencing 
the  passion  of  Quakers  for  education,  were  prob- 
ably the  greatest  factor  in  the  development  of  cul- 
ture among  the  early  settlers. 

William  Hiatt  Coffin,  whose  talent  for  pictur- 
esque detail  is  happily  irrepressible,  gives  us  an 
anecdote  of  the  schooldays  of  the  early  '30's: 

"John  Macy  kept  a  large  Friends  School  in  the  frame 
school  building  near  the  old  meeting-house  grounds.  One 
winter  a  deep  snow  was  on  the  ground,  the  large  scholars 
had  brought  a  two-horse  sugar  sled  and  had  a  fine  slide 
down  the  long  steep  slope  that  runs  for  two  or  three  hun- 
dred yards  over  the  grounds,  and  when  books  were  taken 
up  left  the  sled  at  the  top  'scotched'  ready  for  business. 
One  of  the  smaller  Stubbs  boys  went  out  of  school,  and, 
wanting  a  ride,  got  on,  knocking  out  the  'scotches'  and 
away  she  went  like  John  Gilpin,  fairly  flying.  A  cow  chew- 
ing her  cud  stood  in  the  way ;  there  was  a  collision,  and  the 
cow  fell  on  the  sled  holding  the  boy  and  went  bawling  to 
the  end  of  the  track." 

In  1827,  four  years  after  his  arrival  in  Indiana, 
Elijah  Coffin  was  made  clerk  to  Indiana  Yearly 
Meeting  of  Friends  and  served  in  that  capacity 
until  the  year  1858.  He  was  also  an  Elder  in  the 
Society  and  prominent  in  its  councils  during  his 
entire  life. 

Charles  F.  Coffin  says:  "Objection  to  my 
father's  acting  as  Clerk  was  made  because  his  hat 
brim  was  not  wide  enough;  this  would  be  consid- 

71 


Charles  F.  Coffin 

ered  a  most  singular  reason  now;  however   the 
meeting  did  not  sustain  the  objection. 

"I  was  taken  to  meeting  with  great  regularity,  both  in 
the  middle  of  the  week  and  on  the  First  Day.  It  used  to  be 
rather  trying  to  me  to  be  called  in  from  my  play  to  go  to 
meeting  on  Fifth  Day,  but  I  recall  with  a  great  deal  of  in- 
terest the  old  Friends  who  sat  in  the  galleries.  The  meet- 
ings were  mostly  silent  and  I  was  expected  to  sit  by  my 
father's  side  for  an  hour  and  a  half  without  going  to  sleep 
and  without  my  feet  touching  the  floor.  It  was  a  trying 
ordeal,  yet  I  look  back  to  the  time  with  great  thankfulness 
as  having  been  part  of  the  discipline  of  my  life,  and  having 
taught  me  the  habit  of  reverence  in  public  worship,'' 

The  Hicksite  separation  in  1828  did  not  spare 
either  the  Coffin  or  the  Hiatt  family,  and  its  first 
bitterness  and  excitement  which  the  boy  felt  even 
at  that  early  age,  was  to  continue  actively  through 
the  first  half  of  his  life.  In  a  talk  given  in  1915  he 
said: 

"I  want  to  say  here  that  it  is  a  source  of  regret  to  me 
that  the  separation  ever  took  place.  I  do  not  think  that  it 
was  at  all  necessary.  All  Friends,  after  the  Hicksites  with- 
drew, went  to  work  disowning  them.  That  created  bitter- 
ness. I  remember  that  bitterness  well,  for  it  touched  closely 
my  own  home. 

"My  Grandfather  Coffin  went  with  the  Hicksites  and  my 
father  stayed  with  the  Orthodox.  My  Grandfather  Hiatt 
remained  with  the  Orthodox  and  his  brother  Silas,  who  lived 
on  an  adjoining  farm,  joined  the  Hicksites  and  friendly  in- 
tercourse between  them  pretty  much  ceased,  and  so  it  went 
all  through  the  church. 

''At  Miami,  when  the  separation  occurred,  Friends  had 

72 


His  Churchly  Period 

a  fine  large  meeting-house.  The  two  Evans  were  Clerks; 
one  was  a  Hicksite  and  the  other  a  Friend  and  when  they 
saw  that  there  was  going  to  be  a  separation,  each  grabbed 
for  the  books.  Thomas  Evans  got  the  books  and  as  he  went 
out  of  the  window,  his  brother  stood  on  his  coat-tail  and 
he  left  it  behind  him. 

'T  think  of  such  things  with  regrets. 

"In  our  meeting  the  separators  quietly  got  up  and  went 
out  of  the  meeting-house  to  Charles  Starr's  new  barn  and 
there  organized  a  separate  yearly  meeting. 

"Friends  commenced  immediately  after  the  separation 
to  deal  with  the  separatists,  and  during  that  part  of  my  life 
when  I  was  Clerk,  I  signed  many  testimonies  of  disown- 
ment  against  individuals  and  families — 'for  uniting  with 
the  Separatists' — and  as  their  children  came  on,  they  were 
disowned.  I  think  this  was  one  of  the  greatest  mistakes 
that  Friends  made. 

"They  did  not,  I  think,  make  any  mistake  in  standing 
for  sound  doctrine.  Elias  Hicks  seems  to  have  imbibed 
many  ideas  from  the  Unitarians  in  New  England,  who  were 
at  that  time  active  and  aggressive.  He  preached  their  views 
and  collected  about  him  a  large  following;  but  he  was  a 
good  man,  and  if  the  Society  had  had  the  patience  and 
Christian  love  to  deal  tenderly  and  cautiously,  difficulties 
might  have  been  removed  to  the  credit  of  all  concerned." 

In  a  general  survey  of  this  period  he  writes: 

"Life  passed  on  slowly  yet  on  the  whole  pleasantly. 
There  was  but  little  of  novelty  or  variety,  very  little  amuse- 
ment or  what  would  now  be  called  pleasures,  but  my  train- 
ing led  me  not  to  seek  these,  so  I  cared  not  for  them.  In 
looking  back  I  think  there  was  too  little  of  the  pleasures 
and  joys  of  life,  and  that  the  ideal  before  us  was  too  se- 
vere, and  as  the  young  people  grew  up  very  many  of  them 

n 


Charles  F.  Coffin 

were  driven  from  the  church   for  the  lack  of  more  that 
was  warm  and  cheerful. 

'The  ideal  Friend  of  that  time  was  a  straightforward, 
upright  man,  dressed  in  the  peculiar  garb  then  worn  by 
Friends  and  speaking  the  plain  language,  but  abstaining 
from  everything  that  had  the  least  tinge  of  amusement 
about  it.  There  was  much  social  life  and  visiting,  especially 
on  the  First  Day  of  the  week.  Most  of  the  Friends  were 
farmers  and  were  engaged  laboriously  in  clearing  the  for- 
ests and  procuring  a  subsistence  for  their  families.  The 
men  worked  hard  in  the  fields  and  the  women  in  the  house, 
and  there  was  little  else  of  interest  in  their  lives.  There  was, 
however,  a  great  deal  of  personal  kindness  and  hospitality 
and  social  life.  The  sick  and  suffering  were  well  attended 
by  their  neighbors  and  farmers  assisted  each  other  in  gath- 
ering in  their  crops." 


74 


Ill 

Elijah  Coffin's  business  was  prosperous  in  a 
small  way  but  he  was  in  debt,  and  in  the  year  1833, 
when  an  opportunity  came  to  sell  his  business  at 
a  fair  profit  he  did  so  and  removed  to  Cincinnati, 
where  he  was  employed  by  the  Wholesale  Dry 
Goods  House  of  Griffin  and  Luckey. 

"We  were  nearly  two  days  in  a  carriage  mak- 
ing the  journey,"  Charles  F.  Coffin  writes.  ''Rid- 
ing through  the  country  the  sixty  miles  between 
the  two  places  everything  looked  beautiful,  but  we 
arrived  at  Cincinnati  on  the  Fourth  of  July,  dur- 
ing the  greatest  heat  of  the  summer.  Under  the 
hills  which  surround  Cincinnati  it  was  intensely 
oppressive  and  mosquitos  abounded,  so  that  one's 
recollection  of  the  life  in  the  city  at  that  season 
of  the  year  was  not  pleasant." 

Cincinnati  was  then  a  city  of  forty  thousand 
people,  with  such  excellent  steamship  lines  and 
stage  connections  that  it  was  of  great  importance 
commercially.  Business  opportunities  were  excel- 
lent for  any  one  who  cared  to  accommodate  him- 
self to  the  ways  of  the  city,  but  it  is  evident  that 
the  environment  could  not  have  been  congenial  to 
a  Quaker  family. 

Charles  F.  Coffin  tells  of  the  rival  volunteer  fire 
companies.  "When  fires  occurred  the  bells  rang 
and  almost  everybody  in  the  city  rushed  into  the 

75 


Charles  F.  Coffin 

streets  and  cried  'fire'  creating  perfect  confusion  f 
of  low  ebb  on  the  river  when  a  boy  of  eleven  could 
easily  wade  and  swim  to  the  Kentucky  shore,  and 
of  February  flood  time  when  the  city,  lying  as  it 
did  in  the  lowlands  of  the  ''Bottom,"  was  damaged 
by  the  overflow.  These  were  experiences  any  boy 
would  enjoy.  But  he  tells  also  of  two  severe  epi- 
demics of  cholera,  of  the  unpopularity  of  anti- 
slavery  principles  in  a  town  whose  interests  were 
so  largely  in  the  South,  and  of  convicts  with  ball 
and  chain  working  on  the  excellent  city  roads.  Of 
the  latter  he  says,  "It  made  a  strong  impression  on 
my  mind  as  an  act  of  cruelty  and  of  unnecessary 
exposure,"  and  it  can  hardly  be  doubted  that  this 
boyish  impression,  like  the  "classic  instance  of  Lin- 
coln at  the  slave  auction,  was  the  marked  begin- 
ning of  his  long  interest  in  prisons  and  the  men  in 
them. 

William  Hiatt  Cofiin  adds  to  these  general  ir- 
ritations the  story  of  the  more  personal  difliculties 
of  a  Quaker  boy: 

"I  recollect  well  when  we  removed  to  Cincinnati  in  1833. 
Charles  and  I  had  new  suits,  probably  of  nice  jeans,  with 
plain-collared  roundabouts,  and  appeared  Quakerly  to  the 
City  boys ;  so  much  so,  that  one  day  as  we  walked  to  meet- 
ing quite  a  crowd  followed,  yelling  'Quaker!  Quaker!' 
One  more  bold  and  much  taller  than  the  rest  ran  up  behind 
Charles  and  made  a  vigorous  kick  at  him,  which  as  we  were 
walking  just  missed  him.  His  foot  went  nearly  over  Charles' 
head  and  sent  the  kicker  backwards  on  the  back  of  his  head 
on  to  the  hard  pavement,  where  his  comrades  gathered 
around  him.     And  we  walked  on. 

76 


His  Churchly  Period 

"It  was  not,  of  course,  mentioned  in  the  next  reports  of 
the  Yearly  Meeting  for  Sufferings  but  young  as  I  was  I 
thought  of  'Sewell's  History'  in  which  I  had  even  then  be- 
come interested.  I  thought  it  probably  the  next  best  book  to 
the  Bible,  at  least  for  Friends  to  read." 

One  of  the  pleasantest  memories  of  the  time 
was  the  visit  in  1834  of  Anna  Braithwaite  of  Eng- 
land, again  on  a  reHgious  tour,  this  time  with  her 
husband,  Isaac  Braithwaite.  It  will  be  remembered 
that  the  baby  Charles  had  been  taken  by  his  mother 
ten  years  before  to  Anna  Braithwaite's  meeting  at 
New  Garden  in  North  Carolina. 

Charles  Coffin  says: 

"I  recall  them  very  distinctly.  She  was  at  that  time  a 
matronly  woman,  beautiful  of  countenance  and  character. 
A  woman  of  culture  and  refinement.  Isaac  Braithwaite  was 
a  large  man,  typical  in  build  of  our  idea  of  a  big  English- 
man. He  was  courteous  and  kindly  to  me  as  a  boy  and  left 
the  impression  of  fatherly  care  and  spirituality  in  my  child- 
ish mind. 

"Their  son,  Joseph  Bevan  Braithwaite,  was  one  of  my 
most  intimate  friends,  and  the  pleasant  and  affectionate  in- 
tercourse between  us  lasted  during  his  entire  life." 

Elijah  Coffin  remained  in  Cincinnati  for  only  a 
year  and  a  half,  and  then  removed  to  Richmond, 
Indiana.  This  return  to  familiar  territory  was  in 
consequence  of  his  having  been  appointed  cashier 
of  the  Richmond  branch  of  the  State  Bank  of  In- 
diana. 

This  bank  was  organized  with  headquarters  at 
the  state  capital,  Indianapolis,  and  had  branches 

17 


Charles  F.  Coffin 

in  different  cities  throughout  the  state.  It  was  the 
first  state  bank  established  in  Indiana.  Its  charter 
ran  till  1859  and  during  that  time  it  had  a  monop- 
oly of  the  issuance  of  bank  notes.  Elijah  Coffin 
served  as  cashier  of  this  bank  until  it  went  out  of 
business  by  expiration  of  its  charter. 

His  son,  Charles  F.  Coffin,  became  an  employee 
of  this  bank  in  1835,  when  he  was  twelve  years  old. 
One  gains  an  impression  of  the  little  office  boy  from 
the  description  of  his  brother:  ''Brother  Charles, 
from  the  time  that  he  took  his  place  in  the  old  State 
Bank  with  Father,  always  appeared  neat  and  as  if 
he  had  been  lifted  out  of  a  bandbox."  With  this 
bank  and  its  successors  he  was  connected  for  many 
years. 

His  education  continued.  He  studied  at  night 
and  he  had  the  assistance  of  such  school  teachers 
as  from  time  to  time  taught  the  schools  that  were 
being  established;  but  this  was  neither  so  consecu- 
tive nor  satisfactory  a  method  as  could  have  been 
wished,  and  he  was  in  full  sympathy  with  a  concern 
arising  among  Friends  to  educate  their  children 
both  more  thoroughly  and  under  better  direction. 

He  himself  tells  the  story  of  the  rise  of  senti- 
ment and  his  own  active  part  in  the  promotion  of 
the  "Young  Friends  Boarding  School  Association.'' 
It  should  be  noted  that  he  was  at  the  time  only 
eighteen  years  of  age,  but  he  was  fitted  for  this  ap- 
pointment both  personally  and  by  his  banking  con- 
nection.  He  says : 

78 


His  Churchly  Period 

"Earlham  College,  located  at  Richmond,  Indiana,  which 
has  become  the  educational  centre  of  Indiana  Yearly  Meet- 
ing, was  conceived  about  the  year  1830,  in  an  effort  on  the 
part  of  the  Friends  in  Indiana  to  prepare  the  way  for  a 
more  thorough  and  guarded  education  of  the  children,  un- 
der the  care  of  the  Society.  Educational  opportunities  at 
that  time  were  poor  and  in  many  families,  children  re- 
ceived only  a  rudimentary  education. 

"The  first  step  was  to  purchase  two  farms,  upon  which 
to  erect  a  Boarding  School.  There  was  but  little  wealth  in 
the  Society,  and  it  was  difficult  to  raise  the  necessary  funds 
to  erect  the  buildings  for  the  Boarding  School,  therefore 
some  years  elapsed  after  the  purchase  of  the  land,  betore 
the  buildings  were  commenced.  It  seemed  impossible  to 
raise  the  necessary  funds,  until  the  younger  members  of  the 
Society  took  hold  of  the  matter  and  organized  what  was 
known  as  the  "Young  Friends  Boarding  School  Associa- 
tion." In  the  year  1841  I  was  appointed  its  Clerk,  and  took 
an  active  interest  in  its  work.  Thus  began  my  first  public 
religious  work.  This  Association  appealed  to  the  young  peo- 
ple and  gave  them  something  worth  while  to  do,  so  the 
young  people  became  earnest  and  active  in  its  prosecution. 

"An  address  was  issued  to  the  Young  Friends  of  the 
Yearly  Meeting,  which  was  printed  and  circulated,  and  or- 
ganizations were  formed  in  most  of  the  Quarterly  Meetings 
to  promote  the  objects  of  the  Association.  I  visited  several 
of  the  Quarterly  Meetings  in  this  work.  It  resulted  finally 
in  enough  funds  being  raised  by  the  young  people  to  induce 
the  Boarding  School  Committee  to  commence  the  construc- 
tion of  the  first  building,  an  elaborate  plan  for  which  had 
been  prepared  by  Friend  Ezra  Bailey  of  Cincinnati,  an 
architect.  Since  there  were  not  sufficient  funds  in  sight  to 
construct  the  entire  building  as  designed,  two-thirds  of  it 
was  put  under  way  and  finally  completed  during  the  year 
1846.    The  boarding  school  was  opened  June  7,  1847." 

79 


Charles  F.  Coffin 

AN  ADDRESS 

From  the  Association  of  Young  Friends  to  Promote 

Subscription  of  the  Boarding  School 

to  the 

Young  Friends  of  Indiana  Yearly  Meeting 

Dear  Friends: 

Impressed  with  consideration  of  the  importance  of  a 
guarded  literary  education,  and  of  the  difficulties  in  the  way 
of  obtaining  one  at  present,  within  the  limits  of  our  Yearly 
Meeting,  we  are  led  to  call  your  attention  to  this  subject. 

The  education  of  our  youth  is  very  closely  connected 
with  the  present  and  future  well-being  of  our  hitherto  fav- 
ored society.  This  we  think  you  will  readily  admit,  when 
you  reflect  on  the  numerous  advantages  which  the  well  ed- 
ucated mind  possesses  over  one  that  is  unlettered  and  un- 
disciplined. 

Children  are  very  imitative,  and  their  propensities  being 
stronger  to  follow  corrupt  than  good  examples,  it  is  there- 
fore important  that  they  should,  as  much  as  possible,  be  ex- 
cluded from  the  evil  until  their  principles  have  acquired 
sufficient  strength  to  withstand  their  contaminating  in- 
fluence. 

We  find  that  there  are  now  seven  thousand  and  six 
hundred  youth  of  our  Yearly  Meeting,  of  a  suitable  age  to 
go  to  school,  nearly  two  thousand  of  whom  are  receiving 
their  education  entirely  without  the  pale  of  our  society; 
and  two-thirds  of  the  remainder  in  a  loose,  limited  manner. 

We  are  aware  that  the  common  schools  throughout  our 
country  are  neither  calculated  to  increase  our  knowledge, 
or  discipline  our  minds  to  the  extent  that  is  desirable,  and 
that  in  them  our  moral  and  religious  condition  is  often 
sullied  and  impaired ;  being  frequently  placed  under  the 
direction  of  teachers  who  have  little  or  no  regard  to  relig- 
ion, and  who  are  unacquainted  with  the  necessity  of  men- 

80 


His  Churchly  Period 

tal  discipline  and  moral  culture ;  associating  also,  with  every 
class  and  condition,  how  can  we  expect  that  the  children 
will  be  thoroughly  educated  in  useful  literary  knowledge,  or 
will  fill  with  respectability  their  dififerent  stations  in  civil 
and  religious  society.  While  this  proposed  institution  will 
greatly  lessen  these  difficulties  by  furnishing  means  of  giv- 
ing a  substantial  and  guarded  education  to  many  of  our 
youth,  it  will  also  be  useful  in  preparing  some  to  take  charge 
of  schools  in  other  districts  of  our  widely  extended  Society ; 
thereby  all  may  be  brought  within  the  reach  of  competent 
teachers,  who,  under  the  blessing  of  the  Shepherd  of  Israel, 
the  great  Head  of  the  church,  will  be  instrumental  in  form- 
ing the  character  of  those  of  our  youth,  who  are  about  en- 
tering upon  a  course  of  education,  and  to  whom  we  must, 
in  all  probability,  in  a  few  years,  look  for  a  succession  of 
standard  bearers;  and  upon  whom,  when  our  fathers  have 
passed  away,  the  support  of  the  testimonies  of  our  beloved 
Society  must  devolve. 

These  views  seem  to  show  the  obligation  which  rests 
upon  us  to  seek  earnestly  for  some  other  source  of  instruc- 
tion than  that  which  we  now  have,  especially  as  we  are 
members  of  a  religious  body  whose  preservation  and  use- 
fulness very  much  depends  upon  the  general  diffusion  of 
correct  principles  and  sound  religious  sentiments  among  its 
members. 

Thus,  we  think  that  a  Yearly  Meeting  School,  under  the 
care  of  a  judicious  committee  superintended  by  suitable 
persons,  and  instructed  by  teachers  thoroughly  imbued  with 
our  doctrines,  and  well  qualified  to  advance  the  pupils,  both 
in  a  mental  and  moral  condition,  presents  at  this  time  an 
object  of  the  utmost  importance  for  us  to  desire,  and  for 
which  we  should  labor  with  the  greatest  diligence  and  per- 
severing zeal.  Then  may  we  hope,  that  fostered  under  the 
wings  of  the  Society,  the  subjects  of  its  earnest  religious 
concern,  the  children  may  grow  to  fill  the  vacant  places  in 

81 


Charles  F.  Coffin 

our  Israel,  and  with  their  varied  acquirements  being  sanc- 
tified and  blessed  by  the  divine  Master,  be  occupied  to  his 
honor  and  the  good  of  the  Church. 

Our  elder  Friends  seeing  the  advantages  derived  by 
similar  institutions  to  the  members  of  other  Yearly  Meet- 
ings, and  the  imminent  danger  to  which  our  youth  are  ex- 
posed when  placed  from  among  us  to  acquire  an  education, 
were  led  into  deep  and  feeling  anxiety  for  the  rising  gen- 
eration. They  purchased  a  farm  and  have  been  steadily  ad- 
vancing with  the  work  of  establishing  a  Boarding  School 
upon  a  permanent  and  extensive  plan,  where  we  could  en- 
joy the  combined  advantages  of  a  guarded  religious  and 
literary  education.  They  procured  materials  and  have  laid 
the  foundation  of  the  house,  but  from  some  causes  becoming 
discouraged,  and  young  Friends,  at  our  last  Yearly  Meet- 
ing, seeing  the  languishing  state  of  the  concern,  believed  duty 
impelled  them  to  make  an  effort  for  the  completion  of  the 
work. 

By  this  effort  we  have  seen  one  wing  of  the  building 
rise  from  the  ground,  and  two-fifths  of  the  whole  is  ex- 
pected to  be  enclosed  during  the  present  month. 

We  think  that  if  we  could  individually,  seriously  and 
solemnly  contemplate  the  several  points  already  briefly  ad- 
verted to,  we  not  only  would  be  induced  to  appreciate  the 
object  in  view  more  than  heretofore,  but  we  would  like- 
wise be  convinced  that  it  is  an  indispensable  duty  of  ours, 
to  be  aroused  to  an  increased  energy  of  action  therein. 

We  are  led  to  believe  we  can  all  contribute  something 
for  this  laudable  object,  without  subjecting  ourselves  to  any 
material  disadvantage,  or  by  depriving  ourselves  of  more 
than  we  could  or  should  be  willing  to  appropriate. 

Let  each  person  be  impressed  with  the  necessity  of 
casting  in  his  mite,  remembering  that  the  widow  who  cast 
in  her  mite,  cast  in  more  than  they  all. 

Therefore,  in  conclusion,  we  call  upon  all  to  pause  for  a 

82 


His  Churchly  Period 

moment  and  consider  the  interest  we  should  feel  for  our 
own  welfare,  for  the  welfare  of  each  other,  and  for  that 
of  our  highly  professing  Society;  and  after  thus  considering, 
ask  the  question,  ''Do  I  feel  clear  about  aiding  the  Boarding 
School?"       Signed  on  behalf  of  the  meeting, 

Charles  F.  Coffin,  Clerk. 
Richmond,  Indiana,  10th  mo.  4th,  1841. 

Not  the  least  important  episode  in  his  educa- 
tion came  in  the  year  1844,  when  his  father  induced 
him  to  make  a  trip  to  Philadelphia  and  the  Eastern 
states  to  visit  Friends.  He  was  then  twenty-one 
years  old  and  the  trip  was  the  first  he  had  taken 
except  as  he  had  gone  on  business  from  time  to 
time  to  Cincinnati  or  Indianapolis. 

The  journey  was  made  by  boat  from  Cincin- 
nati to  Wheeling,  W.  Va.,  and  thence  by  stage  to 
Cumberland,  Md.  Of  this  part  of  the  road  he 
speaks  with  admiration.  "The  National  Road,''  he 
says,  "was  a  beautiful  piece  of  workmanship,  as  I 
recall  it.  We  were  a  long  time  in  going  up  Laurel 
Hill,  the  stage  being  full  of  passengers,  and  the 
horses  being  driven  very  slowly.  When  we  reached 
the  summit  of  the  hill  and  started  down  the  other 
side,  our  speed  was  greatly  increased;  but  we  were 
about  twenty-four  hours  in  going  through  from 
Wheeling  to  Cumberland." 

From  Cumberland  he  went  on  to  Washington 
on  the  Baltimore  and  Ohio  railroad  which  had  just 
been  completed;  and  after  a  visit  in  Washington, 
where  he  called  on  President  John  Tyler,  he  pro- 

83 


Charles  F.  Coffin 

ceeded  to  Baltimore  and  thence  by  railroad  to  Phil- 
adelphia, then  as  now  the  Mecca  of  Quakers. 

From  Philadelphia  he  went  by  boat  on  the  Del- 
aware river  to  Burlington,  N.  J.,  thence  to  Perth 
Amboy  by  rail  and  by  boat  to  New  York  City. 
There  he  again  took  boat  to  Providence,  where  he 
went  by  train  to  Boston.  Having  returned  from 
Boston  to  New  York  City,  he  went  up  the  Hudson 
to  Troy  and  took  there  the  New  York  Central  rail- 
way to  the  end  of  the  line  in  Rochester.  A  packet 
boat  took  him  on  the  Erie  Canal  to  Lockport;  he 
visited  Niagara  Falls  and  took  boat  again  for 
Cleveland  from  Buffalo.  At  Cleveland  he  took 
stage  to  Columbus  and  Dayton,  and  the  trip  from 
Dayton  to  Richmond  he  made  by  carriage. 

The  trip  not  only  broadened  his  education,  but 
it  stimulated  his  ambitions,  both  for  education  and 
for  church  work.  He  had  become  acquainted  with 
many  of  the  leading  Friends  in  the  Eastern  states 
and  was  introduced  to  a  cultural  life  to  which  he 
was  a  stranger.  The  friendships  made  during  this 
journey  served  him  well  in  after  years;  they  were 
among  the  factors  that  made  possible  the  large  in- 
fluence which  he  exercised. 


84 


IV 

We  cannot,  if  we  would,  do  better  here  than 
to  let  Charles  F.  Coffin  speak  for  himself  of  the 
next  year.  This  account  was  written  fifty  years 
later  when  Rhoda  Johnson  Coffin  was  seventy  years 
old. 

In  the  year  1845  an  event  occurred  of  transcendent  im- 
portance. Barnabas  C.  Hobbs  had  been  employed  to  teach 
the  Friends'  School  near  White  Water  meeting  house.  He 
had  considerable  reputation  as  a  teacher,  and  being  an  ac- 
tive and  energetic  man,  he  had  a  large  number  of  pupils, 
many  young  persons  having  come  from  a  considerable  dis- 
tance to  attend  the  school.  Amongst  others  was  a  young 
woman  named  Rhoda  M.  Johnson,  a  daughter  of  John  and 
Judith  Johnson,  of  Warren  County,  Ohio.  Her  home,  an 
old  fashioned  brick  Farm  House,  overlooked  the  Little 
Miami  River  for  miles.  On  the  opposite  bank,  one  or  two 
miles  from  the  house,  was  the  village  of  Waynesville,  where 
the  Miami  meeting  house  stood.  There  were  a  large  num- 
ber of  Friends  belonging  to  this  meeting,  and  it  was  an  im- 
portant unit  in  Indiana  Yearly  Meeting,  being  one  of  the 
oldest  meetings  within  its  limits. 

John  Johnson,  a  man  of  energy  and  force,  had  risen 
from  poverty  to  a  competence,  for  the  farm  was  exceed- 
ingly productive  under  his  good  management.  He  had  a 
family  of  seven  children,  four  boys  and  three  daughters ; 
his  house  was  well  known  for  the  hospitality  of  its  owner, 
and  was  a  favorite  stopping  place  for  traveling  Friends  so 
that  the  family  were  rarely  without  company. 

The  daughter  Rhoda  grew  up  under  the  careful  train- 
ing of  her  mother,  an  admirable    housekeeper.   She  had  ob- 


Charles  F.  Coffin 

tained  a  very  fair  common  school  education  and  came  to 
Richmond  in  order  to  take  a  more  advanced  course  of  study. 
She  entered  the  school  of  Barnabas  C.  Hobbs  in  October, 
1845.  She  had  a  pleasing  countenance  with  gray  eyes  and 
great  animation.  She  was  about  five  feet,  six  inches  high, 
weighed  about  136  pounds  and  had  beautiful  brown  hair 
which  has  not  lost  its  lustre,  even  at  seventy.  Altogether, 
in  my  eyes,  she  was  an  exceedingly  attractive  young  wo- 
man. We  were  frequently  thrown  together,  for  I  attended 
the  literary  exercises  of  the  societies  connected  with  the 
school,  and  took  part  in  many  of  them,  and  it  was  not  long 
before  we  became  acknowledged  lovers. 

In  February,  1846,  she  was  called  home  by  the  danger- 
ous illness  of  her  father,  who  after  lingering  many  months, 
died  during  that  year.  This  broke  up  and  scattered  the 
family.  Two  of  the  sons  had  already  married  and  the 
mother  did  not  feel  equal  to  the  responsibility  of  carrying 
on  the  farm. 

I  made  frequent  visits  there,  usually  riding  in  a  buggy 
the  fifty-two  miles  across  the  country.  At  the  time  of  my 
first  trip  the  peach  trees  were  in  bloom,  the  grass  was  grow- 
ing and  everything  looked  beautiful.  Perhaps  I  was  in  a 
condition  to  enjoy  the  surroundings,  as  my  heart  beat  with 
great  rapidity  at  the  thought  of  my  first  visit  to  the  home 
of  my  beloved. 

Her  parents  had  known  me  and  were  well  acquainted 
with  the  family;  so  that  when  I  took  the  bold  step,  of  speak- 
ing to  them  about  the  acquaintance  which  had  been  formed, 
they  gave  me  a  cordial  reception  and  opened  the  way  for 
me  to  proceed.  I  do  not  know  what  would  have  happend 
if  they  had  not  done  so,  as  the  matter  was  pretty  well  ar- 
ranged between  us,  still  I  was  glad  to  perform  the  duty 
due  to  her  parents.  During  the  frequent  subsequent  visits, 
the  home,  which  was  soon  bereaved  of  the  father,  was  a 
sad  one  to  the  occupants,  but  to  me  was  especially  delightful. 

86 


His  Churchly  Period 

March  25th,  1847,  we  were  married  by  Friends'  cere- 
mony in  Miami  Meeting  House.  The  wedding  was  select 
on  account  of  the  recent  death  of  my  wife's  father.  It  was 
a  cold,  blustery  day  in  March. 

We  started  out  the  next  day  in  buggies  across  the  coun- 
try for  home,  accompanied  by  her  oldest  brother,  Brooks 
Johnson,  and  his  wife,  Lydia.  We  were  all  of  two  days  in 
reaching  my  father's  house,  where  we  were  met  by  quite  a 
company  of  our  Richmond  friends. 

I  had  purchased  a  small  brick  house  with  four  rooms, 
and  my  wife  was  prepared  with  furniture  and  all  the  neces- 
sary fixtures  for  housekeeping,  so  that  we  started  in  this 
cottage  and  were  as  comfortable  and  happy  as  it  is  pos- 
sible to  imagine. 

My  salary  was  small,  only  amounting  at  first  to  eight 
hundred  dollars  a  year,  but  our  wants  were  well  provided 
for,  our  tastes  were  similar,  our  affections  deep  and  our  in- 
terests mutual,  a  state  of  things  which  has  continued  all 
through  the  years  which  have  since  elapsed. 

We  entered  into  the  duties  of  life  with  a  full  sense  of  its 
responsibilities.  We  set  up  a  family  altar  at  once  which 
has  never  been  neglected.  We  attended  regularly  to  our 
religious  duties,  and  in  every  way  did  what  we  thought  was 
required  in  the  service  of  our  Heavenly  Father. 

C.  F.  C 

It  is  of  considerable  interest  to  note  that  the 
large  Bible  used  for  family  worship  was  given 
to  Charles  F.  Coffin  Tenth  Month  6th,  1847,  by 
an  English  Friend,  Josiah  Forster.  This  Bible 
was  used  continuously  for  daily  reading  through 
his  lifetime.  Josiah  Forster,  a  notable  man  in  the 
English  Society,  had,  with  his  brother,  William 
Forster  and  other  English  Friends  visited  Indiana 

87 


Charles  F.  Coffin 

two  years  before  in  an  attempt  to  reconcile  differ- 
ences among  Friends  on  the  subject  of  slavery.  He 
had  evidently  found  the  young  man  and  his  family 
of  sympathetic  views— worth  keeping  in  kindly  re- 
membrance. 


V 

Two  distinct  views  present  themselves  of  the 
religious  conditions  in  which  Charles  F.  Coffin  spent 
the  first  forty  years  of  his  life;  his  religious  en- 
vironment changed  very  little  from  1823  until  the 
amazing  outbreak  of  1860,  but  in  this  environment 
his  personal  development  went  on  in  healthy 
growth  so  gradual  that  it  is  hard  to  break  into 
periods. 

His  outer  religious  world,  the  shell  within  which 
he  developed,  has  been  admirably  described  in  a 
paper  written  by  his  son,  Elijah  Coffin  and  is  here 
quoted  in  full: 

"It  is  with  the  human  race  as  with  the  individuals  of  it,  our 
memories  go  back  but  a  little  way,  or,  if  they  go  back  far,  they 
pick  up  here  and  there  a  date,  and  there  are  occurrences  half  for- 
gotten." 

And,  even  then,  it  is  impossible  for  people  of  the  pres- 
ent generation  to  fully  comprehend  the  mental  attitude  of 
those  days. 

Only  those  who  lived  at  that  time,  and  have  watched  the 
progress  of  freedom,  and  religious  life  in  the  Society,  can 
understand  the  wonder  of  the  matter;  and  they  occasionally 
rub  their  eyes,  and  think — "Can  these  things  be?" 

Nor  is  it  now  possible,  to  understand  the  narrowness  of 
vision  that  then  prevailed.  The  effect  of  the  ''Great  Sepa- 
ration (of  1828)  still  hung  over  everything.  Quietism  was 
at  its  highest  point,  and  a  great  horror  of  "creaturely  ac- 
tivity" filled  the  minds  of  many  of  the  good  people  who 
were  at  the  head  of  the  meeting. 

89 


Charles  F.  Coffin 

"Creaturely  activity/'  in  those  days  was  the  term  ap- 
plied to  any  movement  out  of  the  regular  rut  or  routine. 
Elders  were  appointed  for  life,  and  people,  who  were  un- 
der thirty-five  years  of  age,  were  rarely  appointed  as  mem- 
bers of  committees. 

Speaking,  or  vocal  prayer,  by  any  not  of  the  authorized 
ministry,  was  quietly  discouraged,  and,  if  persisted  in,  was 
privately  reproved  by  the  Elders.  Children,  above  eight 
years  of  age,  were  expected  to  attend  meeting  on  First 
Days  and  were  trained  to  sit  still. 

"Everyone  cleaves  to  the  doctrine  he  has  happened  upon,  as 
to  a  rock  against  which  he  has  been  thrown  by  tempest." 

Conditions  existed  similar  to  those  of  that  period  when 
the  Puritans  of  New  England  were  in  absolute  power. 
Hicksites,  Spiritualists  and  Infidels  were  regarded  as  lost 
beyond  redemption. 

Presbyterians  and  Episcopalians  stood  a  chance  of  sal- 
vation, if  they  would  only  repent.  Methodists  were  the 
most  highly  respected,  but  no  Religious  intercourse  at  all 
was  held  with  other  churches,  and  only  a  moderate  amount 
of  social  intercourse  was  permitted.  Friends  were  sufficient 
unto  themselves.  Members  who  fell  by  the  way,  were  prac- 
tically ostracized.  As  for  the  preaching,  it  was  either  doc- 
trinal, with  long  arguments  upon  various  points  of  belief ; 
or,  of  the  awful  majesty  and  power  of  God;  or,  of  the  ter- 
rors of  hell;  or,  against  "Creaturely  Activity."  Visions 
and  dreams  were  used  by  some  in  their  preaching,  and  the 
sermons  were  long;  often  from  one  to  two  hours.  Preach- 
ing of  love,  both  of  Christ  and  our  fellow-men,  was  rare. 
Apparently,  God  was  regarded  as  an  awful  E>eity,  who  was 
only  to  be  feared. 

The  meeting  was  large,  and  was  held  together  by  family 
ties,  social  connections,  and  the  pride  of  exclusiveness. 
Meetings,  in  those  days,  were  the  only  public  entertainments 
permitted  to  Friends,  and  were  always    largely    attended. 

90 


His  Churchly  Period 

People  expected  long  sermons,  and  they  were  rarely  dis- 
appointed. Ministers  held  high  ideas  of  the  sacredness  of 
their  inspiration.  The  orthodox  method  of  the  extreme 
Quietists,  was  to  sit  quietly  until  they  had  cleared  their 
minds  of  all  worldly  thoughts;  and  then  say  whatever  came 
into  their  minds,  after  the  mental  house-cleaning  was  com- 
pleted. This  they  regarded  as  inspiration,  and  perhaps  it 
was.  All  preaching  must  be  intoned.  The  efforts  of  some 
in  this  direction  were  wearing  to  the  nerves  of  the  listen- 
ers, yet,  music  and  singing  were  regarded  with  absolute 
abhorrence. 

One  Friend,  narrow-minded  and  very  ignorant,  preached 
a  sermon  in  which  he  spoke  very  bitterly  against  the  wick- 
edness of  singers,  and  mentioned  that  "single  woman  Jane 
Lynde."  (At  that  time  Jenny  Lind  was  making  her  tri- 
umphant tour  through  the  East.) 

Another  minister,  from  the  country,  once  preached  about 
a  mysterious  wickedness,  generally  practiced  only  in  the 
evenings,  which,  he  thought,  was  corrupting  the  young 
and  leading  them  into  the  way  of  death,  and  denounced 
''fyjels"  with  great  emphasis.    He  referred  to  "fiddles." 

The  most  active  among  the  ministers  belonging  to  the 
meeting  could  be  relied  upon  for  at  least  an  hour's  sermon. 
He  would  preach  upon  doctrinal  points;  or,  upon  the 
majesty  and  aw  fulness  of  God.  Or,  occasionally,  he  would 
talk  for  an  hour  enunciating  his  views  upon  Hell  and  its 
horrors;  until,  what  between  the  preaching,  and  the  physi- 
cal discomfort  of  the  seats,  the  matter  was  deeply  impressed 
upon  his  hearers,  physically  as  well  as  mentally.  He  had 
a  fashion  of  standing  upon  his  tip-toes  at  the  end  of  sen- 
tences he  regarded  as  important,  and  emitting  a  loud  hiss, 
which  served  to  keep  his  hearers  from  sleeping.  But  he  was 
a  good  man  and  led  a  good  life. 

In  more  recent  years,  the  story  is  told  of  one  very  good 
man,  who  occasionally  prayed  on   Sabbath  mornings,   but 

91 


Charles  F.  Coffin 

who  was  very  lazy  and  sluggish,  both  in  thought  and  ac- 
tion. One  Sabbath  morning  while  he  was  praying,  a  Friend 
near  him  heard  a  peculiar  puff,  between  his  sentences.  On 
turning  his  head,  he  saw  that  a  fly  was  walking  up  and 
down  the  man's  nose,  and  that  the  puffs  were  intended  to 
blow  the  fly  away.  The  man  never  happened  to  think  of 
raising  his  hand  to  drive  if  off.   The  fly  remained. 

Some  of  the  minor  preachers  were  able  to  tie  together 
verses  from  various  parts  of  the  Bible,  and  thus  make  a 
well  connected  address  of  from  ten  to  twenty  minutes. 
Texts  from  the  Old  Testament,  the  Epistles,  and  Revela- 
tions were  the  favorite  ones  and  most  largely  used. 

PLAIN  DRESS 
"In  gown  of  gray,  or  coat  of  drab, 
They  trod  the  common  ways  of  life. 
With  passions  held  in  sternest  leash, 
And  hearts  that  knew  not  strife. 

To  yon  grim  meeting  house  they  fared, 
With  thoughts  as  sober  as  their  speech, 

To   voiceless    prayer,   to   songless   praise. 
To  hear  the  elders  preach," 

Previous  to  1860  each  and  every  person  who  was  ap- 
pointed to  any  position  in  the  Meeting  was  required  to  wear 
the  ''plain  dress.''  The  women  wore  the  plain  bonnets.  The 
men  wore  two  kinds  of  hats  to  Meeting.  One  was  a  plain 
black,  high  hat,  with  a  broad,  straight  brim.  These  hats  were 
generally  purchased  from  John  Suffrins,  a  hatter  who  was  a 
Friend.  The  other  style  of  hat  was  also  a  hat  with  broad, 
straight  brim,  but  with  a  long  nap  or  fur,  light  yellow  in 
color.  These  hats  came  from  North  Carolina,  from  the  fa- 
mous Beard's  Hatter  Shop.  They  were  practically  inde- 
structible and  lasted  an  ordinary  man  thirty  or  forty  years. 
The  well  authenticated  story  is  told  of  a  Friend  living  on 
a  fine  farm  near  Green's  Fork,  who  was  partially  bald.  He 
insisted,  greatly  to  the  annoyance  of  his  wife  and  family, 

92 


His  Churchly  Period 

on  wearing  his  hat  all  the  time,  indoors  and  out.  It  hung 
on  the  bed  post  at  night.  In  the  morning,  when  he  rose, 
his  first  act  was  to  put  on  the  hat.  Then  he  reached  for 
his  trousers  and  took  a  chew  of  tobacco.  Then  he  put  on 
his  trousers  and  shoes  and  was  ready  for  the  day.  When 
he  died  his  sons  took  the  hat  and  buried  it  in  a  corn  field, 
and  for  some  years  thereafter,  every  year  the  plough  turned 
up  portions  of  that  hat. 

BIBLE   READING 

Elijah  Coffin  introduced  in  his  own  family  (in  1828) 
the  practice  of  daily  reading  a  portion  of  the  Scripture.  It 
was  a  new  practice  among  Friends  in  this  country  at  that 
time,  and,  although  recommended  by  the  Yearly  Meeting 
in  1827,  it  was  looked  upon  with  suspicion  by  some,  and 
treated  with  ridicule  by  others.  But  the  practice  slowly 
spread  among  other  Friends  and  was  nearly  universal  in 
1860,  and  it  was  a  general  practice  in  that  Meeting  for  the 
head  of  the  family  to  read  a  chapter  in  the  Bible  to  his  fam- 
ily after  breakfast  each  day.  Every  word  of  the  Bible, 
except  the  ''Apocrypha,"  was  regarded  as  inspired.  Con- 
sequently, a  full  chapter  was  read,  no  matter  what  its 
length.  The  genealogies,  with  their  "begats"  and  revela- 
tions, with  its  visions,  actually  had  a  musical  sound.  By 
such  a  method  of  reading,  the  Bible  was  finished  in  three 
or  four  years,  and  then  begun  over  again. 

SABBATH    SCHOOLS 

Elijah  Coffin  began  the  first  Sabbath  School  among 
Friends  in  the  West  in  1833,  at  Cincinnati.  He  afterwards 
conducted  a  Sabbath  School  at  White  Water  in  1834,  which 
suspended  for  the  winter  in  November.  It  was  resumed 
in  April,  1835,  and  discontinued  in  August.  It  was  resumed 
again  in  April,  1836,  and  continued  until  1855,  but  was 
suspended  each  Fall.  After  1855  it  was  in  session  the  en- 
tire year.    Elijah  Coffin  was  Superintendent  from  1835  un- 

93 


Charles  F.  Coffin 

til  his  death  in  1861.  In  1860  he  organized  a  School  in  Se- 
bastapol,  in  the  afternoons,  which  were  continued  until  his 
death. 

So  the  Friends  in  1860  knew  their  Bible,  and  one  of  the 
exercises  in  the  Sabbath  School,  was  the  repetition  of  texts, 
or  much  larger  portions  of  the  Scriptures,  just  before  the 
school  closed.  Prizes,  frequently  Bibles,  were  given  to  per- 
sons who  memorized  and  repeated  sections  of  the  Bible. 
One  teacher,  who  had  a  class  of  ten,  offered  a  prize  of  a 
Bible  to  anyone  who  could  repeat  the  ''Sermon  on  the 
Mount"  at  a  certain  future  date.  When  the  time  came,  she 
was  startled,  almost  horrified,  and  yet  greatly  pleased,  to 
find  that  she  was  called  upon  to  provide  ten  Bibles,  and 
Bibles  cost  money  in  those  days.  The  quantity  of  verses 
that  some  of  the  human  phonographs  of  those  days  could 
accumulate,  ''verbatim  et  punctuatem,"  was  wonderful,  and 
nothing  but  absolute  perfection  counted. 

EDUCATION 

Even  in  the  period  between  1850  and  1860  very  many 
of  the  older  members  thought  that  any  education  beyond 
that  of  the  common  schools  was  useless  and  tended  to 
cause  people  to  feel  superior  to  their  neighbors,  and  yet 
Friends  were  the  first  people  to  establish  and  maintain 
schools  in  Indiana,  and  their  schools  were  excellent  and  the 
teaching  was  thorough.  The  rod  was  freely  used  in  main- 
taining order.  Probably  the  first  school  to  be  established 
in  Indiana,  was  a  log  school  house  located  on  land  belong- 
ing to  Thomas  Roberts.  In  1834  a  brick  school  house  was 
completed  near  the  Yearly  Meeting  House.  The  first  teacher 
in  this  house  was  Isaac  Hiatt,  who  was  a  thorough  believer 
in  the  use  of  the  rod.  Chas.  F.  Coffin  was  a  student  there 
for  three  months  in  the  winter  of  1834-1835.  Barnabas  C. 
Hobbs  taught  there  in  1845-1846,  and  again  in  1850-1851. 
William  Houghton  taught  there  in  1848-1849  with  James 
W.  Uxman  as  Assistant.    Daniel  Clark  in  1849-1850,  and 

94 


His  Churchly  Period 

John  Alacy  1851  to  1853.    This  school  in  1860  was  taught 
by  Hiram  Hadley  and  an  assistant. 

Education,  however,  was  at  a  low  ebb  and  the  adult 
members  in  that  generation  had  grown  to  mature  life  with 
but  little  education,  besides  the  "three  R's,"  accompanied  by 
good  sense,  and  yet  they  had  strong  mentalities,  and  enough 
foresight  to  realize  that  their  children  must  have  more 
knowledge  than  they,  themselves,  possessed.  Friends  of  In- 
diana Yearly  Meeting,  after  twenty  years  of  strenuous  ef- 
fort, and  many  personal  sacrifices,  succeeded  in  establish- 
ing a  "Friends  Boarding  School"— later  called  Earlham 
College. 

BOOKS 

Books  were  scarce,  especially  among  Friends,  who,  as  a 
body,  while  they  were  able  to  live  in  the  comfort  of 'those 
days,  were  not  wealthy,  and,  therefore,  money  to  buy  books 
was  a  scarce  article,  yet  they  nearly  all  had  at  least  some 
Friends'  books,  and  sometimes  a  few  others.  Persons  who 
were  children  in  that  distinct  period  in  Quakerism,  which 
preceded  1860,  with  its  religious  tenets  and  practices;  its 
entire  lack  of  amusements,  except  social  visits;  its  tremen- 
dously long  hours  of  work,  and  its  strict  economy  in  living, 
often  wonder  what  the  present  generation  would  be,  if  its 
only  books  were  "Geo.  Fox's  Journal,"  "Barclay's  Apology," 
"Evans'  Exposition,"  a  few  Journals  of  Friends,  and  a 
weekly  newspaper,  together  with  an  almanac.  Of  Friends' 
Journals,  that  of  Stephen  Grellets  was,  comparatively  speak- 
ing, a  romance,  because  it  was  written  in  clear  English.  It 
IS  rare,  in  these  days,  for  anyone  to  read  these,  except  stu- 
dents of  special  subjects.  When  one,  nowadays,  become 
possessed  of  a  virtuous  resolution  to  read — say  Barclay's 
Apology — he  sits  down  on  Sunday  afternoon,  and  reads 
away  with  great  diligence  for  half  an  hour;  re-reading  some 
phrases  to  understand  them  more  clearly,  until  at  last  he 
falls  into  deep  thought.    After  half  an  hour  of  this  thought 

95 


Charles  F.  Coffin 

he  emerges  to  find  his  neck  aching  and  the  book  on  the  floor. 
The  next  Sunday  it  requires  twenty  minutes  to  cause  deep 
thought.  The  following  week  the  sacred  function  of  "house- 
cleaning"  occurs,  and  the  book  is  put  away  in  the  book-case. 
The  reader  announces  that  he  is  reading  portions  of  Bar- 
clay, but  gets  no  further.  In  after  years,  if  Barclay  is  men- 
tioned, he  announces  the  fact  that  he  read  that  book  ''sev- 
eral years  ago."  In  the  old  times,  preachers  and  elders  could 
quote  phrase  after  phrase,  and  page  after  page  of  Fox,  Bar- 
clay, or  Evans.  They  had  nothing  else  to  read,  and  their 
office  required  the  knowledge. 

BOOKS    FOR    CHILDREN 

Books  for  children  were  few.  Bunyan's  ''Pilgrim's 
Progress"  and  "A  Trap  to  Catch  a  Sunbeam"  were  among 
them.  Quite  a  majority,  of  the  few  in  existence,  contained 
a  thin  stratum  of  a  story  of  an  impossibly  good  child,  loaded 
with  and  contained  in  a  thick  covering  of  deadly  dull  moral 
remarks.  They  remind  one,  nowadays,  of  a  railroad  sand- 
wich, composed  of  a  thin  slice  of  ham  and  a  large  bun  of 
dry  bread.  In  order  to  make  them  entertaining  to  a  child, 
they  must  be  read  in  a  high  keyed  voice.  At  the  end  of  half 
an  hour,  both  the  reader  and  the  child  were  exhausted ;  and 
neither  of  them  comprehended  what  they  had  been  reading. 
Such  books  were  read  over  and  over,  and,  in  this  way,  fre- 
quently remained  in  the  memory.  Much  the  same  plan  is 
followed  nowadays,  by  many  people  in  talking  to  a  for- 
eigner. If  one  talks  loud  enough,  the  foreigner  surely  ought 
to  understand  what  is  said. 

NEWSPAPERS 

The  newspapers  of  that  day  were  far  superior  in  their 
literary  standards  to  those  of  the  present  time.  They  were 
weekly  papers,  with  small  circulation,  but  the  editorials  were 
well  written  and  carefully  thought  out.  Their  news  items 
were  reliable  and  short.     Each  week  there  was  an  article, 

96 


His  Churchly  Period 

clipped  from  Eastern  papers,  and  written  by  some  well 
known  writer  or  leading  journalist.  The  so-called  reporter 
of  our  days,  with  his  brilliant  imagination,  and  power  of 
building  up  a  two  column  sensational  article  on  an  imagined 
interview,  did  not  exist.  A  few  lines  of  condensed  informa- 
tion was  all  that  any  item  of  news  received.  The  editors 
themselves  were  in  a  constant  state  of  poverty.  In  Rich- 
mond, "The  Palladium,"  edited  by  Benjamin  Davis,  and  the 
''Jeffersonian"  (a  Democratic  paper),  edited  by  James  El- 
der, were  the  principal  papers,  and  the  editors  were  men 
respected  by  the  community.  Later,  a  paper  called  "The 
Broad  Axe  of  Freedom  and  the  Grubbing  Hoe  of  Truth" 
had  a  short  and  fitful  existence,  and  not  a  very  high  stand- 
ing. 

THE  LEADING   MEMBERS  OF  THE   MEETING 

Naomi  Coffin,  Ann  Townsend  Kenworthy  and  Susan 
Pedrick  were  the  ministers  who  sat  at  the  head  of  the  Meet- 
ing, on  the  women's  side  of  the  Meeting.  Along  with  them, 
in  the  gallery  seats,  were  Mary  Roberts,  Rebecca  Clawson, 
Mary  Jessup,  Elizabeth  Johnson,  Esther  Dickinson,  Mary 
Charles,  Sarah  Cadwallader,  Elizabeth  Ham,  Mary  Hill  and 
others. 

John  Pool  was  at  the  head  of  the  Meeting,  on  the  men's 
side;  and  Benjamin  Fulgham,  Elijah  Coffin,  Levi  Jessup, 
Richard  Pedrick,  Nathan  Charles,  Owen  Edgerton,  Seth 
Smith,  Lewis  A.  Estes,  Wm.  Clawson,  Wm.  Kenworthy, 
Harmon  Hill,  Matthew  Barker,  John  Sufifrens,  Joseph  Dick- 
inson and  others  occupied  the  chief  seats. 

childhood's    MEMORIES 

To  the  memory  of  some  will  come  a  vision  of  the  old 
brick  barn-like  structure,  belonging  to  the  Yearly  Meeting; 
and  of  the  west  half  of  that  building,  in  which  White  Water 
Meeting  was  held  on  First  Days;  of  the  youth's  gallery, 
which  occupied  the  front  of  the  building,  over  the  entrance 

97 


Charles  F.  Coffin 

door;  of  the  three  gallery  seats  at  the  rear  of  the  house, 
rising  above  each  other,  and  of  the  ''sounding  board''  over 
them ;  of  the  poplar  wood,  grown  dark  with  age,  which  cov- 
ered the  ceiling,  sounding  board  and  partition.  Childhood's 
memories  bring  back  the  peculiar  lights  and  shadows  re- 
flected through  the  windows  above  the  ministers'  heads; 
caused  by  the  waving  and  motion  of  the  leaves  on  the  trees 
near  the  house.  If  watched  long  enough,  they  were  sure  to 
cause  sleep,  and  happy  was  the  child  whose  father  would 
let  him  have  a  nap. 

What  hard  seats  these  were;  with  no  support  to  the 
back,  except  a  rail  at  the  top.  How  one's  back  did  ache; 
and  his  feet,  being  without  support,  would  go  to  sleep. 
What  an  intense,  pleasurable  feeling  there  was  when  some 
dear  old  friend  would  begin  to  untie  the  heavy  silk  ribbons 
of  her  bonnet,  then  take  it  off,  and  ''appear  in  supplication." 
This  allowed  a  chance  of  slipping  off  the  bench  and  holding 
on  to  it,  until  the  feet  waked  up.  In  those  days,  during 
prayer  the  audience  stood  up  and  turned  their  backs  to  the 
speaker.  So,  as  far  as  the  child's  comfort  was  concerned, 
the  longer  the  prayer  was,  the  better,  and  he  climbed  back 
to  his  seat  greatly  refreshed  by  the  change. 

If  a  child  grew  too  restless  to  be  controlled,  then  the 
father  took  him  out ;  and  the  wails  that  floated  through  the 
air  showed  that  what,  in  modern  days,  we  call  "massage" 
was  being  applied  to  quiet  the  nerves.  After  the  return 
to  meeting  of  the  personally  conducted  excursion,  peace 
generally  reigned. 

One  wonders,  now-a-days,  whether  there  were  eighteen 
or  twenty-eight  strips  of  boards  in  the  sounding  board,  or 
how  many  there  were  in  the  partition,  and  absolutely  can- 
not remember  how  many  knots  there  were  in  the  boards. 
What  a  blessing  it  was  when  there  was  activity  among  the 
numerous  spider-webs  in  sight! 

And  the  old  horizontal  stoves,  which  would  accommo- 

98 


His  Churchly  Period 

date  a  stick  of  cordwood;  how  the  boy  envied  the  care- 
taker, who  tiptoed  solemnly  about — from  time  to  time — to 
fill  them  up  again.  Those  old  stoves  never  warmed  any- 
thing but  people's  heads.  The  air  near  the  floor  was  cer- 
tainly cold,  and  that  stove  on  the  women's  side  of  the  room, 
with  its  pile  of  bricks!  Each  woman  who  sat  in  the  gallery, 
picked  up  a  ''taker''  (or  woolen  holder)  and  took  a  brick 
to  her  seat  to  keep  her  feet  warm.  The  return  of  those 
"takers,"  so  that  others  could  use  them,  was  a  cause  of 
great  interest  to  the  children.  Some  were  passed  from  hand 
to  hand;  but  many  attempted  to  throw  them  back  to  the 
stove.  Mary  Roberts  was  a  sure  shot,  but  far  the  majority 
of  them  wandered  wide,  landing  in  laps  and  on  nice  bon- 
nets. A  great  deal  of  suppressed  indignation  and  many  red 
faces  resulted,  and  the  impressive  way  in  which  that  "taker" 
(which  had  wandered  far  from  the  proper  path)  was  passed 
on  was  strikingly  funny. 

And  those  good  old  farmer  Friends,  who,  in  the  sum- 
mer time,  worked  from  four  in  the  morning  until  eight  at 
night,  or  in  the  winter  came  into  a  room  which  was  over- 
whelmingly hot  overhead  and  arctic  on  the  feet,  when  they 
came  to  meeting  and  sat  in  silence  for  half  an  hour  longer. 
They  first  thought  over  many  things,  and  then,  realizing 
that  their  thoughts  had  wandered  from  heavenly  things, 
they  closed  their  eyes  in  order  to  concentrate  their  thinking. 
After  a  time  their  thinking  grew  so  profound  that  they 
breathed  out  loud,  and  then  some  neighbor  would  nudge 
them ;  and  they  returned  to  worldly  things,  with  a  snort,  and 
an  irreverent  "snicker"  would  be  heard. 

"In  other  men  we  faults  can  spy, 
And  blame  the  mote  that  dims  their  eye; 
Each  Httle  speck  and  blemish  find, 
To  our  own  stronger  errors  blind." 

Now,  these  people  should  not  be  judged  by  present  day 
criterions,  or  weighed  in  the  scale  of  today.    There  was  no 

99 


Charles  F.  Coffin 

wealth  among  them,  as  we  judge  wealth.  They  lived  within 
their  means — in  which  they  differed  from  many  of  the 
present  day.  They  had  but  little  education,  and  lived  a 
hard,  working  life.  They  had  built  a  wall  about  them- 
selves and  walked  about  within  it  for  so  long  a  time  that 
their  vision  had  become  amazingly  narrow,  but  they  were 
earnest  Christians,  in  their  way,  and  clean-thinking,  high- 
minded  people. 

"Bread  depends  a  good  deal  on  the  quality  of  its  flour,  and 
churches  on  the  quality  of  their  members." 

The  apparent  undercurrent,  at  this  time,  was  a  steadily 
growing  feeling  of  dissatisfaction  among  the  younger  peo- 
ple, who  felt  that  they  should  be  recognized  by  appointment 
on  Committees.  But,  besides  this,  there  was  a  rapidly  in- 
creasing number  among  them,  who,  when  away  from  home, 
had  visited  or  been  brought  into  contact  with  the  work  of 
other  denominations,  or  such  work  as  the  famous  ''Bethel 
Mission  Sunday  School"  at  Cincinnati.  This  contact  had 
aroused  in  them  a  desire  to  escape  from  the  constant  re- 
pression which  existed  in  the  Society  under  its  older 
members. 


100 


VI 

It  cannot  be  doubted  that  one  of  the  earliest 
and  strongest  religious  influences  was  exerted  on 
the  boy  by  another  Englishman,  visiting  in  his 
father's  home  when  Charles  was  twelve  years  old. 
This  was  Joseph  John  Gurney,  brother  of  Eliza- 
beth Fry;  he  had  visited  America  before  and  had 
deeply  influenced  the  Quakerism  of  the  time.  The 
occasion  of  this  visit  was  Indiana  Yearly  Meeting 
of  1837. 

Charles  F.  Coffin  said  of  him  later : 

"I  have  the  most  profound  love  and  affection  for  him. 
He  was  one  of  the  best  specimens  of  manhood  I  have  ever 
seen;  six  feet  high,  well  proportioned,  impressive  manners. 
He  was  a  great  orator,  a  strong  writer  and  sound  in  evan- 
gelical faith.  He  was  a  man  that  was  raised  amid  wealth 
and  refinement,  but  he  devoted  himself  not  to  the  making 
of  money  but  to  work  for  the  good  of  his  fellow  men. 

"I  recollect  some  of  his  'opportunities'  in  my  father's 
house  and  especially  of  his  speaking  to  me.  Some  of  his 
remarks  made  an  impression  upon  my  mind  that  has  never 
been  erased. 

''Joseph  John  Gurney  accommodated  himself  to  the 
roughness  of  western  Friends.  I  use  that  word  with  cau- 
tion because  I  was  one  of  the  rough  ones  that  lived  at  that 
date,  but  we  had  very  little  opportunity  for  culture  and  he 
stimulated  our  desire  for  the  beautiful  and  good." 

The  influence  of  this  charming,  patrician  Friend 
seems  clearly  indicated  by  the  account  following, 
which  begins  with  the  year  of  his  visit. 

101 


Charles  F.  Coffin 

"In  the  year  1837,  in  a  house  occupied  by  our  family  on 
Front  Street,  Richmond,  I  was  left  at  home  one  First  Day 
morning  with  the  care  of  the  younger  children  during  the 
absence  of  my  parents  at  Meeting.  There  came  over  me 
a  strong  sense  of  my  natural  sinful  condition  and  of  the 
necessity  for  a  change  of  heart  and  life.  I  kneeled  upon 
the  floor  and  gave  my  heart  to  God  and  arose  with  a  clear 
sense  of  great  peace  and  comfort  filling  my  soul." 

This  experience  seems  the  natural  result  of  the 
evangelical  teachings  of  Joseph  John  Gurney  upon 
a  boy  whose  "mind  was  early  impressed  with  re- 
Hgious  truth''  and  who  had  grown  to  the  age  of 
twelve  years  ''with  the  reputation  of  being  a  good 
boy,"  a  reputation  fully  attested  to  by  his  brothers 
and  sisters.  One  must  repeat  again  with  him  that 
he  was  "blessed  with  godly  parents." 

Of  his  father  he  says,  "He  was  an  earnest 
Christian  man  and  from  earliest  life  taught  his 
children  in  the  Holy  Scriptures  and  instructed  them 
in  their  religious  duties,"  to  which  he  added  the 
Forcible  example  of  active  and  distinguished  office 
in  the  Society. 

And  of  his  mother  he  recalls,  "She  was  a  deeply 
religious  woman  converted  in  early  womanhood. 
She  devoted  her  life  to  the  service  of  God.  She  was 
a  great  admirer  of  the  writings  of  Fenelon,  Madam 
Guyon  and  other  writers  of  that  type,  and  partook 
considerably  of  their  devotional  caste  of  religion. 
She  was  deeply  affectionate  towards  me  and  as  long 
as  she  lived,  watched  over  me  with  the  greatest 
interest,  even  after  I  attained  to  manhood." 

102 


His  Churchly  Period 

The  record  of  the  following  years  is  one  of 
rapid  development  and  usefulness. 

'1  was  taken  into  business  when  twelve  years  of  age, 
and  was  always  conscientious  in  the  discharge  of  my  duties. 
For  many  years  after  I  attended  strictly  to  my  religious  as 
well  as  other  duties,  attended  the  Meeting  on  First  Day 
and  in  the  middle  of  the  week,  studied  the  Bible  and  did 
all  that  I  knew  how  to  do  to  maintain  a  religious  life.  I  was 
closely  occupied  by  business  for  many  years  after  this,  but 
always  kept  my  duty  to  God  in  the  front. 

'1  was  rigid  in  the  observance  of  all  the  usages  of  our 
Society,  dressed  (after  I  grew  to  manhood)  in  the  garb 
peculiar  to  Friends,  used  the  plain  language  and  in  early 
life  was  put  into  use  in  the  church. 

"My  first  clerkship  was  serving  a  Bible  Society  of 
which  my  father  had  been  clerk  for  many  years.  He  was 
unable  to  attend  a  Meeting  held  at  West  Grove,  eight  miles 
west  of  Richmond,  and  I  went  in  his  place,  though  then  only 
about  seventeen  years  of  age.  Friends  rather  admired  my 
coming  and  appointed  me  clerk,  a  place  which  I  filled  for 
many  years." 

It  will  be  remembered  that  the  next  year,  when 
he  was  eighteen,  he  was  appointed  clerk  of  the 
''Young  Friends  Boarding  School  Association," 
and  it  is  obvious  that  he  had  made  an  excellent  im- 
pression as  a  presiding  officer,  for  he  was  made, 
successively,  clerk  of  the  Preparative  Meeting,  as- 
sistant clerk  of  the  Monthly  Meeting,  clerk  of  the 
Monthly  Meeting,  and  at  the  age  of  thirty-four, 
clerk  of  the  Meeting  for  Sufferings,  which  was  at 
that  time  an  important  body  of  the  Yearly  Meet- 
ing.    These  positions  led  naturally  to  his  appoint- 

103 


Charles  F.  Coffin 

ment  in  1858  as  clerk  of  Indiana  Yearly  Meeting. 

Two  circumstances  were  instrumental  in  his 
succession  at  the  age  of  thirty-five  to  a  position 
usually  reserved  for  much  older  men.  One  was  the 
resignation  from  that  office  of  his  father,  who  had 
occupied  the  chair  for  thirty  years.  Another  was 
the  peculiarly  effective  service  Charles  F.  Coffin 
had  just  been  able  to  do  the  Society,  in  bringing 
back  to  Indiana  Yearly  Meeting  the  seceding 
branch  of  Anti-slavery  Friends. 

The  story  of  the  division  and  its  healing  may 
well  begin  with  the  visit  of  Henry  Clay  to  Indiana 
at  a  time  w^hen  sentiment  was  high  and  ready  to 
crystallize. 

In  1842  Henry  Clay,  then  a  candidate  for  President, 
made  ''a  swing  around  the  circle."  He  reached  Richmond, 
Indiana,  at  the  time  that  Indiana  Yearly  Meeting  was  in 
session  and  he  delivered  there  a  political  address. 

A  number  of  Friends  living  in  and  about  Newport,  In- 
diana, where  the  headquarters  of  the  Anti- Slavery  Friends 
was  located,  presented  him  a  petition  asking  him  to  free  his 
slaves.  Henry  Clay  replied  to  this  petition  in  eloquent,  but 
biting  refusal. 

The  Anti-Slavery  Friends  then  started  work  to  prevent 
his  election  and  when  the  election  was  held  Indiana,  through 
their  efforts,  cast  its  vote  against  Henry  Clay  and  ''as  goes 
Indiana,  so  goes  the  Union." 

Henry  Clay  visited  Indiana  Yearly  Meeting  on  First 
Day  and  was  conducted  to  a  seat  facing  the  Meeting.  He 
was  the  first  layman,  not  a  Friend,  who  was  thus  honored. 

He  was  conducted  from  the  hotel  to  the  meeting-house 
by  Elijah  Coffin ;  Charles  F.  Coffin  drove  the  carriage. 

104 


His  Churchly  Period 

In  1912  Charles  F.  Coffin  dictated  his  recollections  of 
this  visit  and  about  the  same  time,  without  his  knowledge, 
William  H.  Coffin,  his  brother,  dictated  his  recollections.  At 
this  time  these  two  men  were  the  only  living  men  capable  of 
describing  this  incident.  These  two  documents  are  in  pos- 
session of   Earlham  College  Library. 

Prof.  Harlow  Lindley  has  made  a  study  of  this  period 
and  has  collected  much  data  concerning  Henry  Clay  and 
his  visit  to  Indiana,  but  these  two  documents  are  the  only 
accounts  he  has  obtained  from  eye  witnesses  of  the  events 
of  that  week. 

Levi  Coffin,  a  cousin  of  Charles  F.  Coffin,  was  one  of  the 
leading  men  in  the  organization  of  Indiana  Yearly  Meeting 
of  Anti-Slavery  Friends,  which  began  its  sessions  in  New- 
port in  the  year  1842,  and  which  continued  as  a  separate 
body  until  the  late  50's. 

During  this  period  of  time  Elijah  Coffin  was  Clerk  to 
Indiana  Yearly  Meeting  and  one  of  the  leaders  therein,  but 
personal  friendship  was  maintained  between  the  two  men, 
and  each  visited  frequently  the  home  of  the  other.  Charles 
F.  Coffin  told  me  he  was  present  and  heard  many  discussions 
between  his  father  and  his  cousin  concerning  slavery  and 
the  attitude  of  Friends  thereto,  and  that  in  the  early  50's 
he  (C.  F.  C.)  felt  called  upon  to  attempt  to  bring  the  Sep- 
aratists into  accord  with  the  Meeting. 

I  am  unable  to  find  in  his  papers  any  record  of  his  ac- 
tivities in  this  work.  I  am  confident  that  he  did  not  attempt 
this  labor  alone,  but  obtained  the  advice  and  assistance  of 
other  Friends  therein.  Public  opinion  in  Indiana  Yearly 
Meeting  was  rapidly  tending  toward  an  advocacy  of  the 
immediate  abolition  of  slavery  and  this  made  the  task  of 
reconciliation  easier. 

As  a  lad  I  remember  the  visits  of  Levi  Coffin  to  our 
house  and  Levi  Coffin  told  me  that  my  father,  Charles  F. 
Coffin,  was  largely  responsible  for  the  reconciliation  that 

105 


Charles  F.  Coffin 

took  place  between  the  two  branches  and  their  reunion 
without  prejudice  to  either  party. 

This  particular  phase  of  the  history  of  the  Society  is 
well  worth  an  intensive  study. 

Levi  Coffin  has  published  a  book  of  "Reminiscences" 
which  gives  some  idea  of  existing  conditions. 

On  the  18th  of  the  Fifth  Month,  1858,  Chas.  F. 
Coffin  wrote  a  letter,  quoted  below,  to  a  friend  in 
Philadelphia : 

"It  is  always  gratifying  to  the  true  friends  of  our  Re- 
ligious Society  to  hear  of  the  healing  of  breaches  amongst 
us,  it  will  therefore  be  pleasant  to  know  that  the  Friends 
who  left  Indiana  Yearly  Meeting  on  account  of  the  dif- 
ficulty on  the  Anti-Slavery  question,  are  nearly  all  restored 
to  the  body  of  Friends.  As  thou  art  aware,  they  discontin- 
ued their  separate  meetings  last  autumn,  since  which  time 
many  of  them  in  different  localities  have  been  received 
again  into  membership.  At  a  recent  Monthly  Meeting  four- 
teen were  received,  and  the  consent  of  the  Meeting  was 
given  to  the  reception  of  some  others  who  had  been  dis- 
owned at  that  meeting,  but  had  since  removed  to  other 
meetings.  There  are  very  few  in  any  place  who  have  not 
returned,  and  I  think  a  short  time  will  restore  the  last  one 
of  them,  except  a  few  who  have  abandoned  the  principles 
of  Friends. 

"Thus  this  sore  difficulty,  which  has  cost  some  of  us 
many  a  bitter  cup,  appears  happily  closed,  and  I  trust  it 
will  be  a  warning  to  Friends  on  all  hands  to  exercise  more 
forbearance  towards  each  other  on  all  matters  of  minor 
consideration  and  if  possible,  avoid  contentions.  We  have 
sorrowfully  realized  the  truth  of  the  text:  'Where  envy- 
ing and  strife  is,  there  is  confusion  and  every  evil  work.' 
I  think  we  shall  more  than  ever  realize  how  good  it  is  for 
brethren  to  dwell  together  in  unity;  for  as  none  who  have 

106 


His  Churchly  Period 

not  been  overtaken  in  such  differences  can  realize  the 
scattering  tendency  of  dissensions,  so,  on  the  other  hand, 
those  who  are  never  tried  in  this  way,  can  scarcely  realize 
the  consolation  felt  when  they  are  brought  to  a  satisfac- 
tory close." 

Three  months  later  he  took  his  seat  as  clerk  of 
Indiana  Yearly  Meeting,  doubtless  as  an  official 
satisfactory  to  both  factions  of  the  closed  contro- 
versy. 

His  own  resume  of  the  methods  used  by  him 
in  his  long  term  of  service  deserve  close  attention, 
for  they  were  employed  through  a  period  of  change 
so  great  that  the  avoidance  of  extremes  required 
the  greatest  sense  and  diplomacy. 

The  Clerkship  of  Indiana  Yearly  Meeting  was  an  im- 
portant position,  for  not  only  did  the  Clerk  keep  the  Min- 
utes of  the  Meeting,  but  he  acted  as  presiding  officer  as 
well. 

Since  the  system  of  managing  such  Meetings  is  grad- 
ually changing,  I  think  it  well  to  record  the  methods  I 
adopted  and  used  during  the  twenty-seven  years  I  was  its 
Clerk— 1858  to  1884. 

After  serving  for  several  years  as  Assistant  Clerk — 
six  years — I  was  appointed  Clerk  in  the  year  1858. 

When  I  became  Clerk,  it  was  my  studied  effort  to  fulfill 
the  duties  devolving  upon  me,  to  the  glory  of  God  and  to 
the  satisfaction  of  Friends.  I  was  deeply  impressed  with 
the  responsibilities  of  the  station,  and  looked  very  ear- 
nestly and  continuously  to  my  Heavenly  Father  for  the 
directing  power  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  which  I  believe  was 
abundantly  vouchsafed.  I  became  versed  in  the  practices 
of  ancient  Friends  and  in  the  queries  and  advices  of  the 
Society,  and  was  never  at  a  loss  for  the  views  and  knew 

107 


Charles  F.  Coffin 

the  traditions  of  the  Society  on  any  point  of  doctrine  or 
discipline.  I  familiarized  myself  with  all  the  routine  of 
business,  and  with  the  faces  and  names  of  all  of  those  who 
usually  took  part  in  the  business,  and  was  able  at  all  times 
to  call  the  name  of  any  one,  from  any  part  of  the  Yearly 
Meeting,  who  rose  to  speak.  I  always  felt  it  to  be  my  duty 
to  give  to  every  individual,  however  humble  his  position 
might  be,  the  full  opportunity  of  expressing  his  views,  and 
if  any  one,  from  difference  or  otherwise,  failed  in  a  clear 
expression  of  them,  I  would  repeat  for  them  to  bring  the 
matter  clearly  before  the  Meeting.  I  endeavored,  in  the 
transaction  of  the  business  of  the  Meeting,  to  have  no  bias 
of  my  own,  but  simply  to  act  as  a  servant  whether  the  pro- 
ceedings accorded  with  my  own  personal  desires  or  not. 
During  my  Clerkship,  I  passed  through  times  of  great  ex- 
citement; when  questions  of  large  interest  were  pending 
and  when  the  feelings  of  members  on  either  side  were 
deeply  stirred.  But  my  efforts  to  do  justice  to  all  parties 
and  to  treat  all  exactly  alike  won  for  me  the  confidence  of 
the  Meeting.  The  delicate  question  as  to  when  to  stop  a 
discussion  and  to  decide  as  to  what  zvas  the  ^'weight  of  the 
Meeting"  was  always  one  which  caused  me  to  feel  greatly 
the  responsibility  of  my  position.  This  term  ^'weight  of  the 
Meeting"  in  Quaker  phraseology  has  reference  to  the  dis- 
tinction in  the  membership,  as  to  their  spiritual  life  and 
power,  and  as  to  the  position  they  filled  in  the  Society;  so 
that  the  decisions  were  not  always  the  result  of  majorities, 
but  were  made  by  a  delicate  sensing — by  the  clerk,  as  to 
the  weight  of  responsibility.  It  was  not  often,  however, 
that  majorities  were  overruled;  indeed,  I  never  remember 
such  an  occasion :  because  if  there  was  strong  opposition  to 
a  measure,  the  clerk  ruled  that  there  was  not  sufficient  har- 
mony in  the  Meeting  and  the  proposition  was  laid  over  for 
further  consideration  as  way  opened. 

I  am  the  more  explicit  in  the  description  of  this  type  of 

108 


His  Churchly  Period 

clerkship  inasmuch  as  the  habit  now  is  common  where  there 
is  much  difference  of  opinion,  of  being  governed  by  *'viva 
voce"  vote  or  show  of  hands,  as  is  common  practice  with 
other  assembhes.  My  own  attachment  for  the  ancient  or- 
der of  things  is  such  that  I  still  think  it  best,  but  must  con- 
fess at  the  same  time,  that  it  might  be  subjected  to  improper 
use  in  the  hands  of  an  injudicious  or  partisan  clerk. 

During  my  clerkship,  I  rarely  expressed  my  opinion 
upon  any  question  before  the  Meeting,  fearing  that  it  might 
influence  my  judgment  in  the  decision  of  the  case. 

When  I  surrendered  the  clerkship  in  1884,  the  Yearly 
Meeting  that  year  being  the  last  one  in  which  I  served,  I 
felt  as  if  I  had  given  up  a  position  which  was  exceedingly 
dear  to  me,  and  yet  I  would  not  advocate  this  long  contin- 
uance of  clerks  or  presiding  officers.  I  now  think  it  would 
be  better  for  changes  to  be  made,  occasionally  at  least. 

During  the  latter  years  of  my  service  as  Clerk  in  In- 
diana Yearly  Meeting,  there  had  grown  up  a  group  of  sub- 
stantial, able,  solid  Friends,  who  maintained  a  controlling 
power  in  the  business  meeting  of  the  Society.  Indeed,  it 
might  be  said  that  20  or  30  individuals  practically  dominated 
that  body,  for  they  did  most  of  the  speaking,  were  appointed 
on  Committees,  and  did  most  of  the  work,  although  of 
course,  many  others  participated  to  a  greater  or  less  ex- 
tent. This  concentration  of  power  and  influence  in  a  few 
individuals  has  occurred  in  all  the  Yearly  Meetings  within 
my  knowledge,  and,  I  presume,  occurs  within  the  religious 
assemblies  in  all  other  denominations.  But  it  has  its  dis- 
advantages and  during  the  latter  part  of  my  Clerkship,  I 
made  effort  to  call  out  expressions  from  the  younger 
Friends,  and  from  persons  who  had  not  heretofore  stood 
prominent  so  that  they  might  be  brought  into  a  field  of  use- 
fulness, and  the  business  meetings  made  more  truly  dem- 
ocratic. 

Again  the  Yearly  Meeting  was  scattered  over  a   large 

109 


Charles  F.  Coffin 

extent  of  country,  including  all  eastern  Indiana  and  western 
Ohio,  with  some  Meetings  in  Michigan.  Very  many  of  its 
members,  who  resided  at  a  long  distance  from  the  place  of 
Meeting,  rarely  attended. 

While  every  effort  was  made  to  keep  the  home  folk  ad- 
vised of  the  proceedings  of  the  Yearly  Meeting,  and  they 
were  furnished  with  its  printed  minutes,  they  never  laid 
hold  of  its  decisions  with  the  realizing  sense  that  did  those 
who  attended  and  took  active  part  therein.  Hence  the  local 
Meetings  in  the  immediate  vicinity  of  the  Yearly  Meeting 
had  a  great  advantage  as  most  of  their  members  attended, 
and  thus  they  tended  to  dominate  its  decisions.  An  increas- 
ing feeling  grew  up  in  the  distance  Meetings  that  the  Yearly 
Meeting  was  one  with  which  they  had  little  to  do.  This  feel- 
ing was  not  seriously  destructive,  but  it  certainly  made  the 
distant  Meetings  less  careful  to  carry  out  the  requisitions 
of  the  Yearly  Meeting,  and  to  pay  what  was  necessary  for 
maintaining  the  work  of  the  Central  Body.  This  difficulty 
is  one  which  I  have  never  known  how  we  could  correct. 

No  divisions  or  separations  took  place  during  the  period 
of  my  Clerkship.  C.  F.  C 

One  eloquent  example  of  the  effectiveness  of 
these  principles  is  related  of  the  Yearly  Meeting 
of  1869,  by  Timothy  Nicholson. 

The  radicals,  advocating  advanced  holiness  doc- 
trines, were  most  aggressive  and  a  heated  discus- 
sion arose  during  the  day  devoted  to  the  considera- 
tion of  the  state  of  the  Society.  For  a  time  it 
seemed  as  if  the  radicals  were  going  to  carry  every- 
thing before  them,  much  to  the  distress  of  the  older 
and  more  conservative  Friends. 

The  hub-bub  of  talk  continued  for  nearly  an 
hour.    Charles  F.  Coffin  as  clerk  had  power  to  call 

110 


His  Churchly  Period 

the  Meeting  to  order.  Instead  of  doing  so,  he 
turned  to  an  old  Friend,  Joseph  Cox,  who  sat  beside 
him,  the  first  one  on  the  facing  bench  and  said, 
'Joseph,  shall  I  stop  them?^'  Joseph  Cox  replied,' 
''Not  yet,  Charles,  let  them  run." 

The  stream  of  talk  still  continued,  but  the  radi- 
cals were  doing  all  the  talking  and  the  conserva- 
tives did  not  reply.  Forty  minutes  later  Charles  F. 
Coffin  asked  the  same  question  of  Joseph  Cox  and 
the  old  Roman  replied,  "Wait  a  while  longer;  this  is 
not  a  north-easter."  (A  northeast  storm  usually 
continues  several  days.) 

In  time  the  rebellious  ones  talked  themselves 
into  silence.  No  answer  was  made  to  them  and  the 
Meeting  under  direction  of  the  clerk  quietly  re- 
sumed its  business.  Undoubtedly  this  skillful  hand- 
ling of  the  situation  prevented  a  more  protracted 
scene  of  shameful  confusion  and  it  is  possible  that 
a  quarrel  or  separation  might  otherwise  have  re- 
sulted. 


Ill 


HIS  EVANGELICAL  PERIOD 


HIS  EVANGELICAL  PERIOD 

I 

Such  a  religious  life,  orderly  and  useful  as  it 
was,  left  too  much  natural  emotion  bound  in  rigid 
form.  The  change  in  the  point  of  view  of  Friends 
beginning  abruptly  in  1860,  has  been  related  by 
Charles  F.  Coffin  and  set  down  by  his  son,  Elijah 
Coffin.  It  should  not  be  regarded  as  an  isolated 
phenomenon,  but  as  one  phase  of  a  religious  sensi- 
tiveness that  existed  throughout  the  country  at  the 
beginning  of  the  Civil  War.  In  Cincinnati  it  had 
begun  quite  two  years  earlier,  and  it  should  be  noted 
that  Cincinnati  Friends  were  among  those  who  in- 
itiated the  Richmond  movement,  which  was  so 
great  a  contrast  to  its  quiet  background. 

It  was  not  unusual  for  some  of  the  Friends,  from  other 
yearly  meetings  to  ask  permission  to  hold  a  special  meeting 
on  some  evening  during  Yearly  Meeting,  and  this  was  gen- 
erally granted  without  question.  During  the  Yearly  Meeting 
of  1860  a  few  Friends,  amongst  whom  was  Elijah  Coffin 
(who  had  been  Clerk  of  the  Yearly  Meeting  from  1827  to 
1858),  his  wife,  Naomi  (who  was  a  Minister),  and  Mur- 
ray Shipley,  David  Judkins  and  Harriet  Steer  (all  these 
from  Cincinnati)  ;  Charles  F.  Coffin  (the  Clerk  of  the 
Yearly  Meeting),  and  his  wife,  John  Henry  Douglas,  Benj. 
Johnson  and  others ;  met  together,  and  sent  a  request  to  the 
Yearly  Meeting  for  privilege  to  hold  a  meeting  with  and 
for  young  people  on  Sunday  evening,  Oct.  7,  1860.  After 
some  debate,  this  request  was  granted.    It  was  understood 

115 


Charles  F.  Coffin 

that  recorded  ministers  should  not  participate  in  the  Meet- 
ing. The  signers  of  the  request  were  in  great  anxiety,  fear- 
ing that  the  movement  might  be  an  entire  failure,  but  they 
hoped  that  at  least  ICX)  would  come.  It  so  happened  that 
everyone's  curiosity  was  aroused;  and,  when  evening  came, 
there  were  more  than  a  thousand  people  present  in  the 
house.  When  the  meeting  began  the  announcement  was 
made  that  the  meeting  was  for  young  people  and  was  in 
their  hands.  Several  of  the  signers  of  the  request  made 
short  addresses.  But  then  came  an  absolutely  unlooked-for 
and  marvelous  outpouring.  There  had  been  absolutely  no 
urging  to  speak,  no  calls  for  converts  to  rise.  Everything 
was  orderly.  But  more  than  150  people  either  prayed,  or 
rose  to  tell  of  their  intention  to  serve  their  Master,  and 
their  desire  to  become  Christ's  children.  The  meeting  lasted 
from  seven  o'clock  until  midnight  and  was  difficult  to  close 
even  then. 

The  old  Meeting  House,  crowded  with  people,  and  dim 
with  lighted  lamps,  was  a  weird,  strange  sight.  Never  be- 
fore was  such  a  sight  seen  in  a  Friends'  Meeting  House. 
There  was  even  a  pathetic  attempt  to  sing  a  hymn ;  but  even 
this  unheard  of  procedure  failed  to  check  the  meeting.  The 
conservative  element  was  horrified,  but  the  matter  was  in 
greater  hands  than  theirs  and  though  they  were  outraged 
they  were  helpless. 

As  a  result  of  a  call  issued  during  the  following  week 
the  house  of  Charles  F.  Coffin^  was  opened  and  the  first 


^Note — Benjamin  Johnson  submits  the  following  list  of  names  of 
those  who  were  present  at  the  prayer  meeting  held  at  Charles  F. 
Coffin's  home  in  1860,  at  which  Sibyl  Jones,  minister  from  New 
England,  was  present:  Joseph  and  Esther  Dickinson,  Samuel  and 
Hannah  Dickinson,  Benjamin  and  Elizabeth  B.  Johnson,  Francis  and 
Elizabeth  Fletcher,  Dr.  William  and  Semira  Waring,  Isaac  and 
Mary  Ann  Evans,  Jesse  Kenworthy  and  wife,  Anna  Starr.  Stephen 
and  Rachel  Mendenhall,  Clayton  Hunt  and  wife,  Elwood  Hadley 
and  wife,  Dr.  Dougan  Clark,  Dr.  W.  W.  Haughton,  John  Nichol- 

116 


His  Evangelical  Period 

regularly  organized  prayer  meeting  ever  held  among  In- 
diana Friends  took  place  on  the  next  Sunday  evening,  Oc- 
tober 14,  1860.  The  house  v^as  full.  The  meetings  con- 
tinued every  Sunday  night  in  this  house  for  nearly  seven 
years  and  were  always  largely  attended. 

The  Richmond  Friends  who  began  that  prayer  meeting, 
which  has  been  the  most  wonderful  power  for  good  in  the 
life  of  the  Society  in  America,  labored  to  under-drain  thor- 
oughly that  portion  of  God's  garden  which  lay  around 
them,  and  thus  the  rains  of  God  were  able  to  wash  out  the 
bitterness  and  sourness  of  the  soil  and  cleanse  it  from  im- 
purities. They  ploughed  the  land  deeply  with  prayer,  and 
then  planted  it  with  love,  both  of  God,  and  their  fellowmen, 
watered  it  with  tears,  and  tilled  it  with  hope.  The  result- 
ing crop  of  good,  and  of  benefit  to  themselves  and  their  suc- 
cessors is  still  spoken  of  all  over  this  land. 

The  prayer  meeting,  held  in  a  private  house  because 
they  could  not  obtain  permission  to  hold  it  in  the  only  meet- 
ing house  in  Richmond  belonging  to  the  Society,  was  at- 
tended by  from  30  to  50  people  each  Sabbath  evening. 
Being  held  in  a  private  house  it  was  entirely  beyond  the 
control  of  the  Meeting.  They  met  with  tremendous  oppo- 
sition from  the  conservative  element  of  their  own  meeting. 
Whenever  they  could  prevail  upon  one  of  their  opponents 
to  visit  the  meeting,  it  frequently  happened  that  those  who 
came  to  scoff  at  and  criticise,  returned  to  pray. 


son,  Roland  T.  Reed  and  wife,  Albert  and  William  Reed.  Jeremiah 
and  John  Hadley,  Howard  Cadwallader  an  wife,  Mary  and  Letitia 
Smith,  Jason  and  Elizabeth  Ham,  Timothy  and  Naomi  Harrison. 

I  have  no  one  to  consult  with  in  reference  to  this  except  Wil- 
liam J.  Hiatt.  He  was  not  living  here  at  that  time  but  there  was 
quite  an  interest  created  among  the  Friends  west  of  here,  where 
he  lived,  and  a  number  of  them  attended  the  meeting  at  different 
times  and  he  remembers  the  report  they  would  give  on  returning 
home.  B.  J. 

February  7th,  1923. 

117 


Charles  F.  Coffin 

"But  noble   souls*  through  dust  and  heat, 
Rise  from  disaster  and  defeat 
The  stronger." 

These  Richmond  Friends  had  everything  to  learn  in  the 
matter  of  Christian  work.  They  had  never  been  brought 
into  class  contact  with  other  Christians.  They  had,  at  the 
beginning  of  this  prayer  meeting,  no  ministers.  Their  re- 
ligious phraseology  was  like  Greek  to  any  outsider.  They 
had  never  learned  how  to  do  any  of  the  religious  work  which 
is  common  now.  They  had  no  system  of  Bible  Lessons  or 
Sunday  School  paper;  nor  did  they  approve  of  either  sing- 
ing or  music.  The  obstacles  they  overcame  were  tremen- 
dous, and  sometimes  almost  heart-breaking.  Their  prayer 
meeting  fused  them  together  and  gave  them  greater  and 
broader  charity,  and  the  holy  fire  grew  in  its  brilliancy,  and 
remains  until  this  day. 

"These  are  they  who  have  contended 
For  their  Saviour's  honor  long, 
Wrestling  on   till   life   was    ended, 
Following   not   the   sinful   throng; 
These,  who  well  the  fight  sustained, 
Triumph  by  the  Lamb  have  gained. 

"These  are  they  whose  hearts  were  riven, 
Sore  with  woe  and  anguish  tried. 
Who  in  prayer  full  oft  have  striven 
With  the  God  they  glorified; 
Now,  their  painful  conflict  o'er. 
God   has   bid  them   weep  no  more." 


118 


II 

The  religious  fervor  developed  in  these  meet- 
ings came  at  a  time  when  there  were  many  direc- 
tions in  which  it  could  be  practically  expended. 
Friends  did  not  believe  in  war,  however  strongly 
they  felt  that  slavery  should  be  abolished,  and 
Charles  F.  Coffin  held  to  peace  principles.  He  was 
one  of  a  committee  of  Friends  sent  to  Washington 
to  intercede  with  the  government  for  conscientious 
objectors  and  the  trip  and  its  results  were  described 
by  him  in  1911. 

In  the  Bulletin  of  Friends'  Historical  Society  of  Phila- 
delphia, Third  Month,  1911 — Volume  4 — No.  1 — is  an  in- 
teresting account  of  "A  conference  of  Friends  held  in  Bal- 
timore beginning  Eleventh  Month  21,  1863." 

This  conference  was  called  by  Baltimore  Yearly  Meet- 
ing for  Sufferings,  and  was  attended  by  delegates  from  the 
Meetings  for  Sufferings  of  New  England,  New  York,  Bal- 
timore, Ohio,  Indiana  and  Western.  The  delegation  from 
Indiana  consisted  of  Charles  F.  Coffin,  Francis  W.  Thomas, 
Daniel  Hill  and  Levi  Jessup. 

The  reading  of  this  article  recalled  forcibly  to  my  mind 
the  events  of  that  interesting  period  and  brought  solemn 
feelings  to  me,  to  find  that  I  am  the  only  living  Member  of 
the  committees  of  the  different  Meetings  for  Sufferings  who 
attended  that  Conference. 

I  have  a  vivid  recollection  of  our  work.  It  was  a  ser- 
ious time  and  one  that  tried  men's  souls.  When  we  met 
together  it  was  under  feelings  of  great  solemnity,  and  ear- 
nest desire  for  the  leading  of  the  Holy  Spirit  in  all  that  we 
did. 

119 


Charles  F.  Coffin 

It  was  one  of  the  first  opportunities  that  Friends  had  in 
this  country  to  test  their  testimony  against  War.  Our  sym- 
pathies were  all  strongly  with  the  Government  and  opposed 
to  the  continuance  of  slavery,  but  we  felt  we  must  maintain 
our  testimony  against  all  War. 

"It  was  the  judgment  of  the  Conference  that  a  small  commit- 
tee should  be  appointed  to  proceed  to  Washington,  without  delay, 
to  have  an  interview  with  the  Secretary  of  War.  Francis  T.  King, 
Charles  F.  Coffin,  Samuel  Boyd  Tobey,  were  appointed  that  com- 
mittee." 

When  the  appointed  committee  from  the  various  Meet- 
ings for  Sufferings  visited  Washington  City  and  had  an  in- 
terview with  President  Lincoln,  he  received  us  with  great 
courtesy  and  kindness  and  showed  deep  feeling  at  the  state- 
ments which  we  presented  to  him.  After  hearing  our  state- 
ments he  assured  us  that  no  person  who  was  really  conscien- 
tious should  be  permitted  to  suffer  if  the  case  was  made 
known  unto  him,  a  promise  which  he  faithfully  carried  out. 

Our  next  visit  was  to  Secretary  of  War — Edward  M. 
Stanton — who  was  as  is  generally  known  a  man  of  great 
force  of  character,  rough  and  hasty  in  his  remarks,  but  evi- 
dently a  man  of  deep  feeling  and  tender  sympathy.  When 
we  presented  the  subject  to  him,  he  listened  (as  is  said  in 
the  report  to  the  Baltimore  Meeting  for  Sufferings)  with 
earnest  attention  to  the  remarks  and  at  the  close  inquired 
whether  we  had  any  proposition  to  make.  He  stated  that 
his  Mother  was  a  Friend  and  that  he  had  a  warm  affection 
for  the  Society  and  would  be  glad  to  relieve  them  from  any 
suffering,  but  that  he  must  comply  with  the  law  of  the  land. 
He  also  stated  that  he  knew  that  many  of  the  young  men  of 
our  Society  had  no  conscientious  scruples  and  such  would 
be  expected  to  take  their  places  if  drafted.  He  was  ex- 
ceedingly kind  and  courteous,  however,  and  we  left  him 
with  a  high  regard  for  his  ability  and  force  of  character, 
as  well  as  kindly  sympathy. 

120 


His  Evangelical  Period 

We  then  visited  each  one  of  the  secretaries,  commencing 
with  the  Secretary  of  State,  W.  H.  Seward,  who  was  curt 
and  unkind,  and  treated  us  quite  uncivilly.  We  accepted 
his  remarks  patiently,  and  withdrew. 

I  remarked  to  one  of  the  leading  members  of  the  deputa- 
tion, that  I  thought  that  we  had  as  well  not  go  further,  he 
replied  at  once:  ''We  will  go  forward  for  we  want  to  find 
out  whether  there  are  any  of  the  other  secretaries  who  en- 
tertain an  opinion  similar  to  that  of  Secretary  Seward." 

We  were  received  by  all  of  the  others  with  the  greatest 
kindness  and  they  listened  to  our  statements  with  close  at- 
tention. 

After  completing  their  work  the  Committee  returned  to 
Baltimore  and  tendered  its  report  which  is  published  in  the 
Bulletin. 

"When  the  Conference  adjourned,  the  following  permanent 
Committee  was  appointed." 

Believing  that  the  interests  of  our  Society  would  be  served  by 
the  appointment  of  a  committee  to  watch  over  the  Legislation  of 
Congress,  and  the  operations  of  the  Draft,  and  to  act  in  such  a 
way  for  the  relief  of  Friends  as  Truth  may  direct,  with  full  power 
if  they  deem  it  advisable  to  call  together  again  this  Conference  we 
appoint  to  that  Service — Francis  T.  King,  James  C.  Thomas,  James 
Carey,  and  Richard  M.  Janney;  Post  Offices,  Baltimore;  Benjamin 
Tatham,  New  York;  Samuel  Boyce,  Lynn,  Massachusetts;  John 
Butler,  Salem,  Ohio;  Charles  F.  Coffin,  Richmond,  Indiana;  and 
Robert  W.  Hodgson,  Plainfield,  Indiana.  Our  clerk  is  directed  to 
furnish  each  Meeting  for  Sufferings  with  a  copy  of  its  minutes,  and 
one  to  Iowa ;  he  is  also  directed  to  invite  that  Meeting  to  any  future 
Meeting  of  this  body  should  one  be  called  by  the  Special  Com- 
mittee. 

This  committee  as  a  whole  had  no  occasion  to  meet  to- 
gether afterwards  and  much  of  the  work  connected  with  it 
fell  upon  our  Friends  in  Baltimore  who  were  quite  equal 
to  it.  Our  Clerk  Francis  T.  King  by  his  position  as  an 
influential  man  in  that  city  was  especially  useful  in  dealing 
with  the  Government. 

121 


Charles  F.  Coffin 

On  the  return  of  our  delegation  from  the  Conference 
we  came  on  the  Baltimore  and  Ohio  Railroad,  through  the 
edge  of  a  hostile  country,  although  we  were  warned  that  it 
was  dangerous  for  us  to  travel  over  that  Railroad.  It  was 
a  serious  day's  travel,  but  we  came  safely  through.  In  the 
sleeping  car  in  which  we  traveled  there  were  but  few  pas- 
sengers except  ourselves  and  we  united  in  a  season  of 
prayer  at  the  close  of  the  day. 

I  went  to  Washington  City  several  times  afterwards  on 
matters  connected  with  the  War  Draft,  and  often  went  to 
Indianapolis,  the  State  Capitol.  Governor  Oliver  P.  Mor- 
ton and  myself  were  about  one  age,  and  had  grown  up  near 
to  each  other  in  Wayne  County,  Indiana.  I  also  received 
from  him  the  utmost  kindness,  and  it  was  necessary  to  visit 
the  Governor  frequently. 

The  Government  had  elaborated  a  plan  by  which  upon 
payment  of  $300  an  amount  sufficient  to  employ  a  substi- 
tute. Friends  could  be  relieved  from  military  service,  but 
we  did  not  feel  at  liberty  to  accept  a  release  by  a  money 
payment  from  our  Testimony  against  War.  The  authori- 
ties at  Washington  and  at  Indianapolis  acted  however  with 
great  kindness  in  releasing  any  scrupulous  persons  who  had 
been  drafted  into  the  Service. 

Secretary  Stanton's  remarks  in  reference  to  our  young 
men  were  strictly  true,  as  was  shown  afterwards  when  many 
of  them  without  waiting  for  the  draft  volunteered  in  the 
Service.  They  weighed  the  question  of  loyalty  to  the  Gov- 
ernment and  opposition  to  slavery  against  their  inherited 
ideals  of  opposition  to  all  War,  and  as  many  of  them  had 
never  formed  a  very  definite  conclusion  of  their  own  on  this 
subject,  they  readily  joined  the  military  forces. 

I  call  to  mind  especially,  one  of  that  class,  Captain  Wm. 
Wiles  of  Indianapolis,  with  whom  I  had  a  long  conversa- 
tion when  his  company  was  brought  to  Richmond  to  pre- 
pare for  War.     I  did  not  feel  it  my  place  to  persuade  any 

122 


His  Evangelical  Period 

one  to  desist  from  doing  what  their  conscience  told  them 
was  right  in  the  premises,  and  I  Hstened  to  his  arguments 
in  favor  of  his  course  with  interest  and  respect. 

I  look  back  now  through  the  long  years  that  have  passed 
since  these  events,  which  have  now  become  historic,  with 
great  interest  and  with  the  feeling  that  we  were  lead  through 
our  difficulties  by  the  *'Holy  Spirit"  and  I  believe  ac- 
complished much  for  the  relief  of  Friends  and  the  mainte- 
nance in  its  purity,  of  our  Testimony. 

(Signed)  Charles  F.  Coffin. 

Editor's  Note— The  proposition  made  to  the  Society  of  Friends, 
by  Secretary  of  War  Stanton,  as  set  forth  in  the  Minutes  of  the 
Baltimore  Conference,  was  in  brief,  as  follows: 

"That  every  Friend  should  when  drafted  appear  before  the 
Provost  Marshal  and  state  that  he  is  a  member  of  the  Society 
of  Friends,  and  his  conscientious  objection  to  perform  Military 
service.  He  would  instruct  the  Provost  Marshals  not  to  proceed 
against  such  until  after  they  had  notified  him.  That  such  Friends 
should  immediately  inform  Secretary  Stanton  by  letter  marked 
'on  business  connected  with  the  Draft'  and  that  upon  payment  of 
$300  each  to  the  Provost  Marshal  General  at  Washington  they  shall 
be  released.  The  money  should  not  go  into  the  general  fund,  but, 
he  would  pledge  himself,  should  be  used  to  aid  the  destitute  and 
suffering  contrabands."— "That  in  this  War  there  were  two  duties 
to  perform  by  the  Government  one  to  destroy  the  Rebellion,  and  the 
other  to  feed  the  hungry,  and  clothe  the  naked  Freedmen.  That 
last  being  a  work  of  mercy,  and  not  of  destruction  might  be  done  by 
Friends." 

The  Charles  F.  and  Rhoda  M.  Coffin  Memorial  Library  at 
Earlham  College  contains  original  documents  giving  the  names 
of  Friends  in  Wayne  County,  Indiana,  drafted  for  Military  Service 
during  the  year  1862. 

His  testimony  against  war  did  not,  however, 
bar  him  from  the  affectionate  good  will  and  friendly 
confidence  of  a  large  number  of  officers  and  soldiers 
who  served  with  the  Union  Army  during  the  Civil 
War.    These  men  were  staunch  friends  of  his  and 

123 


Charles  F.  Coffin 

remained  such,  through  all  the  vicissitudes  of  his 
life.  Few  of  them  were  religious  men,  most  of  them 
had  no  sympathy  with  Friendly  ideals,  and  appar- 
ently there  was  no  bond  of  sympathy  to  hold  them 
in  the  close  friendship  they  manifested  for  him. 

He  was  the  confidential  adviser  of  General  Solo- 
mon P.  Meredith  of  Cambridge  City,  Indiana,  and 
preached  his  funeral  sermon  and  helped  to  settle 
his  estate.  He  maintained  the  hearty  loyalty  and 
good  will  of  General  Thomas  W.  Bennett,  for  many 
years  mayor  of  Richmond.  He  was  intimate  with 
Colonel  Henry  C.  Elliott,  and  Colonel  Oran  Perry, 
found  this  friendship  served  him  well  at  the  begin- 
ning of  the  war.  His  story,  published  in  1890  in 
the  Indianapolis  Nezvs,  speaks  for  that. 

"Gov.  Morton  issued  his  first  call  for  troops  on  the  16th 
day  of  April,  1861,  and  as  it  was  impossible  to  purchase  a 
sufficient  quantity  of  blankets  to  supply  the  large  numbers 
of  volunteers,  who  were  running  over  each  other  to  get  in 
the  army,  the  Governor  appealed  to  the  loyal  people  of  the 
State  to  furnish  the  volunteers  with  blankets.  I  was  one  of 
the  committee  appointed  to  solicit  such  articles  for  those 
who  had  volunteered  with  me,  and  naturally  visited  the 
houses  of  those  who  could  best  afford  to  donate  them.  One 
of  the  first  residences  I  stopped  at  with  my  little  wagon 
was  that  of  Charles  F.  Coffin,  one  of  the  most  prominent 
members  of  the  Society  of  Friends,  as  well  as  one  of  the 
most  distinguished  philanthropists  in  the  U.  S.  I  found  his 
wife,  Mrs.  Rhoda  Coffin,  who  is  equally  well  known  in  re- 
ligion and  philanthropic  circles  at  home,  and  explained  my 
mission.  She  replied,  "Well,  Oran,  thee  knows  that  we  are 
opposed  to  war,  but  we  keep  our  blankets  in  that  cupboard 

124 


His  Evangelical  Period 

at  the  head  of  the  stairs,  and  if  thee  should  help  thyself 
thee  knows  I  would  not  feel  it  my  duty  to  resist  thy  action" 
then  she  turned  her  back.  Of  course  I  took  the  hint  and 
went  upstairs  to  the  cupboard  and  found  it  full  of  blankets. 
I  was  selecting  out  those  that  were  the  most  worn,  when  I 
was  surprised  to  hear  Mrs.  Coffin  standing  on  the  landing  a 
few  feet  distant,  saying,  "When  I  go  to  select  blankets  I 
always  take  the  best."  I  took  the  second  hint  and  left  the 
house  loaded  down  with  some  of  the  best  blankets  I  ever 
saw." 

Oliver  P.  Morton  v^as  his  intimate  personal 
friend.  Of  this  man,  War  Governor  of  Indiana, 
he  says,  ''He  was  a  most  vigorous  and  able  man. 
He  was  about  my  age  and  we  grew  up  within  a 
few  miles  of  each  other;  I  knew  him  from  very 
early  life.  He  was  first  a  hatter  and  afterwards 
studied  law,  and  only  gradually  developed  the  great 
force  and  power  of  which  he  afterwards  proved 
to  be  possessed.  The  circumstances  which  sur- 
rounded him  were  of  the  most  remarkable  char- 
acter, and  the  usually  quiet  and  easy  office  of  gov- 
ernor of  Indiana  became  all  at  once  one  of  immense 
importance.  He  rose  equal  to  the  situation  and 
conducted  the  business  of  his  office  with  consumate 
skill  and  power." 

During  the  Civil  War  social  science  was  not  de- 
veloped to  the  point  which  we  have  now  reached. 
Organized  charity  and  relief,  if  organized  at  all, 
were  crudely  inefficient.  The  people  at  home  real- 
ized the  hardships  of  the  soldiers,  and  the  destruc- 
tion wrought  by  the  armies  but  they  did  not  realize 

125 


Charles  F.  Coffin 

the  evils  that  were  brought  by  war  into  the  lives 
of  those  left  behind. 

Home  life  was  broken  up ;  the  wives  of  soldiers 
were  left  without  means  of  support ;  the  children  of 
soldiers'  widows  grew  up  without  education  or  re- 
straint; juvenile  crime  increased;  efficient  admin- 
istration of  the  law  was  weakened,  the  penal  insti- 
tutions became  hot-beds  for  spoils. 

The  young  Friends'  group  of  1860,  headed  by 
Charles  F.  Coffin,  had  some  realization  of  these 
conditions  and  set  themselves  to  prayerful  work  to 
remedy  them. 

Rhoda  M.  Coffin  found  forty  families  living  within  two 
squares  of  her  own  house  in  misery  and  disorder,  and  per- 
sonally contributed  to  the  support  of  such  families  for  over 
one  year's  time.  Congested  vice  districts  of  this  character 
were  new  to  the  small  Indiana  town  during  this  period  and 
such  conditions  appealed  strongly  to  the  philanthropic  in- 
stincts which  this  group  of  Friends  developed. 

The  group  visited  homes,  encouraged  mothers  to  keep 
their  children  together,  established  sewing  schools  and  Mis- 
sion Schools,  and  contributed  to  the  support  of  these  de- 
pendent sufferers ;  cared  in  modest  way  for  wounded  and 
disabled  soldiers  who  had  returned  from  the  War,  and 
where  possible,  placed  them  on  farms  or  obtained  other 
employment  for  them. 

The  work  continued  after  the  War,  when  Charles  F. 
Coffin  and  his  wife  first  proposed  the  establishment  of  the 
Reform  School  for  boys  at  Plainfield,  Indiana ;  the  reorgan- 
ization of  the  prison  at  Jeffersonville,  Indiana,  the  establish- 
ment of  a  Woman's  Prison  at  Indianapolis,  Indiana,  and  the 
establishment  and  maintenance  of  a  home  for  the  friendless 
at  Richmond,  Indiana. 

126 


His  Evangelical  Period 

One  can  now  see  why  Charles  F.  Coffin  and  his  wife 
obtained  and  held  the  good  will  of  men  who  differed  from 
them  in  almost  every  fundamental  idea. 

We  may  say  that  Social  Service  work  in  Indiana  was 
first  developed  by  this  little  group  of  Richmond  Friends, 
who  in  1864  organized  Richmond  Preparative  Meeting  of 
Friends. 

An  account  of  many  of  these  activities  is  contained  in 
the  life  of  Rhoda  M.  Coffin,  published  for  private  distrib- 
ution and  prepared  by  Mary  Coffin  Johnson. 


127 


Ill 

"During  my  entire  life,"  he  says,  ''I  have  been 
interested  in  Sabbath  School  work  and  in  the  study 
of  the  Bible.  My  father,  Elijah  Coffin,  began  a 
'Tirst  Day  School  for  Biblical  Instruction"  at 
Richmond,  Indiana,  within  the  limits  of  White- 
water Monthly  Meeting  in  the  year  1835  and  this 
school  has  continued  to  the  present  day.  I  was  an 
attender  of  this  school  from  its  beginning  until  the 
year  1864,  when  the  Bible  School  of  Richmond 
Preparative  Meeting  was  organized.  In  1840  I 
was  made  an  assistant  teacher  to  Levi  Jessup  and 
continued  to  teach  in  the  school  until  1862  when  I 
was  made  superintendent.  My  classes  were  always 
a  matter  of  deep  interest  to  me  and  I  worked  hard 
to  qualify  myself  thoroughly  before  undertaking 
to  teach  them.  This  gave  me  a  thorough  knowl- 
edge of  the  Holy  Scriptures  and  accustomed  me  to 
the  exposition  of  Scriptural  truths.  My  dear  wife 
and  myself  were  joint  superintendents  of  a  mission 
school  established  at  Richmond  on  April  21,  1864, 
and  served  as  such  until  1871." 

This  mission  Bible  School  was  one  of  the  out- 
growths of  Friendly  interest  in  waifs  of  the  Civil 
War.  Friends  had  clothed  and  fed  these  neglected 
children;  it  was  but  natural  that  they  should  feel 
responsible  also  for  their  spiritual  welfare. 

129 


Charles  F.  Coffin 


MISSION   SCHOOL 


So  a  Mission  School  was  begun  on  April  21,  1864,  in  the 
Sunday  School  Room  at  the  rear  of  the  little  German 
Church  at  the  corner  of  6th  and  South  B  Streets.  The 
Germans  objected  to  the  damage  of  their  room  and  furni- 
ture by  rough  children,  and  in  a  short  time  the  School  was 
removed  to  what  was  then  the  Public  School  House.  This 
building  was  located  in  the  North  Side  of  the  Public  Square. 
This  Square  was  on  the  south  side  of  what  is  now  ''South 
B"  Street,  between  Fourth  and  Fifth  Streets.  The  ground 
is  now  occupied  by  one  of  the  City  Public  Schools.  This 
school  began  with  an  attendance  of  thirty.  It  was  soon 
found  necessary  to  introduce  singing,  not  only  on  account 
of  its  value  as  an  educational  factor,  but  because  the  chil- 
dren would  not  otherwise  come  at  all.  And,  besides,  it 
was  impossible  to  maintain  order  without  it.  Christopher 
Jackson,  a  devout  Episcopalian,  volunteered  to  lead  the 
singing.  So  another  prejudice  went  whistling  away,  and 
another  loud  moan  arose  from  the  conservative  element. 

The  School  increased  in  numbers  so  rapidly  that  the 
managers  leased  the  entire  German  Church  Building  and  in 
the  Church  the  first  Anniversary  Services  of  the  School 
were  held  May  11,  1865.  One  of  the  weekly  papers,  'The 
Palladium"  of  May  11,  1865,  in  its  editorial  column  gives 
the   following  account  of  this  Anniversary. 

MARION    STREET   SABBATH    SCHOOL 

'Tt  was  our  good  fortune  to  be  present  at  the  Anniver- 
sary exercises  of  this  School,  on  last  Sabbath,  and  never 
have  we  spent  an  hour  so  pleasantly  and  profitably.  This 
Sabbath  School  is  superintended  by  Charles  Coffin,  who  is 
peculiarly  fitted  for  the  arduous  and  patience-trying  labors 
of  keeping  in  order  a  mass  of  juveniles,  the  most  of  whom 
were  under  twelve  years  of  age,  and  checking  their  restless- 
ness by  riveting  their  attention  to  that  which  was  being  said 

130 


His  Evangelical  Period 

and  taught  them.  Without  intending  praise  beyond  what 
is  due,  we  must  be  permitted  to  give  our  testimony,  in  favor 
of  the  most  excellent  order  maintained  from  the  commence- 
ment to  the  close  of  the  School,  by  all  present. 

''The  exercises  consisted  of  recitations  by  classes,  of 
Psalms,  Texts  of  Scriptures,  and  answers  by  the  whole 
school  of  Scriptural  questions.  Short  and  appropriate  ad- 
dresses were  made  to  the  scholars  by  Rev.  A.  Akin,  R.  T. 
Reed,  Rev.  Mr.  Chapman,  and  Sarah  Smith;  all  of  which 
were  interspersed  with  most  delightful  singing  by  the 
scholars,  of  short  hymns,  in  which  the  little  folks  joined 
with  a  will,  and  with  all  the  power  their  little  lungs  gave 
them,  fairly  revelling  in  the  melodious  exercise.  The  sing- 
ing was  led  by  our  friend  C.  Jackson,  who  is  a  most  ex- 
cellent leader,  and  faithful  laborer  in  this  Christian  work 
of  true  benevolence.  At  the  closing  of  the  exercises  Charles 
Coffin  delivered  a  most  interesting  address  and  report,  de- 
tailing the  progress  of  the  School  and  its  growth  from  its 
commencement  until  the  present  time,  from  which  we 
gather  the  following  facts : 

"The  establishment  of  the  'Marion  Street  Sabbath 
School'  is  intended  to  aid  in  supplying  the  lack  of  Sabbath 
School  and  religious  instruction,  which  exists  in  our  city. 
It  was  not  designed  to  act  as  a  competitor  to  other  Sabbath 
Schools ;  but  to  reach  that  class  of  children  who  do  not  at- 
tend such  schools ;  but  all  are  made  welcome. 

'Tt  was  opened  on  the  24th  of  April,  1864,  in  the  school 
building  adjoining  the  German  M.  E.  Church,  now  occu- 
pied by  Friends  as  a  Meeting  House,  on  the  S.  W.  Corner 
of  Marion  and  Market  Sts.  After  a  few  meetings  it  was 
removed  to  the  old  school  house  on  the  Public  Square;  but 
the  room  not  being  sufficient  there,  it  was  again  removed  to 
its  former  location — the  use  of  the  Meeting  House  itself, 
for  the  purpose,  having  been  obtained. 

'Tt  opened   with   forty-one   scholars   and  teachers,   and 

131 


Charles  F.  Coffin 

has  gradually  increased,  until  the  attendance  reached,  dur- 
ing the  winter,  near  three  hundred.  This  number  has  been 
somewhat  reduced  since  by  the  opening  of  the  Franklin 
Street  German  Sabbath  School,  which  took  off  near  one 
hundred  of  the  children.  The  attendance  is  now  from  two 
hundred  to  two  hundred  and  fifty. 

''The  whole  number  of  children  who  have  attended  the 
school,  more  or  less,  during  the  year,  is  about  six  hundred 
— many  of  these  however  have  been  very  transient.  The 
number  at  present  on  the  Hst  is  about  four  hundred.  There 
is  a  Superintendent  and  assistant ;  two  Librarians ;  one  Sec- 
retary, a  Leader  of  the  singing  and  about  twenty  Teachers 
of  both  sexes  engaged  in  the  work,  besides  several  assist- 
ants in  various  departments.  All  engaged,  serve  patiently 
and  faithfully  from  their  love  of  the  good  cause  and  work. 
The  effort  of  the  Teachers  is  to  inculcate  as  much  scrip- 
tural knowledge  as  possible — the  impression  being  that  if  a 
scholar  only  attends  once  and  learns  a  single  passage  of 
Scripture  it  may  be  useful  to  him  or  her. 

'There  is  a  Library  belonging  to  the  School  of  about 
five  hundred  volumes.  Four  hundred  Child's  papers  are 
distributed  amongst  the  children  monthly,  and,  on  nearly 
every  Sabbath  each  scholar  in  attendance  is  furnished  with 
a  tract  and  a  leaflet.  In  this  way  many  thousand  pages  of 
religious  reading  have  gone  into  families  from  whence  the 
children  came.  Nearly  all  those  who  can  read,  and  do  not 
own  a  copy  of  the  Bible,  have  been  supplied. 

"The  above  is  a  brief  outline  of  the  work  performed  by 
this  Sabbath  School  organization,  and  who  shall  say  that 
those  who  are  thus  laboring  in  this  field  of  Christian  duty 
and  love  are  not  laying  up  their  treasures  where  neither 
moth  nor  rust  shall  corrupt,  and  that  many  shall  call  them 
blessed?    May  Heaven  speed  them  in  their  holy  work." 

This  work  was  a  great  education  to  those  who  were  in 
the  management  of  the  School.  As  they  learned,  by  practical 

132 


His  Evangelical  Period 

experience,  how  to  rid  themselves  of  insularity,  and  to  adapt 
themselves  to  the  thinking  of  the  scholars,  their  success 
increased  and  the  School  grew  until  the  building  was  totally 
inadequate  for  the  purpose.  It  eventually  grew  till  the 
average  attendance  was  more  than  350  children. 

THE    MEETING 

As  time  passed,  the  great  advantages  of  a  Meeting  of 
their  own  became  apparent.  And  after  much  consultation 
and  prayerful  thought  some  of  the  men  joined  together  and 
rented  a  church  which  belonged  to  one  of  the  smaller  Ger- 
man denominations.  This  church  was  located  at  the  corner 
of  South  B  and  Sixth  Streets.  This  Meeting  began  in  1864, 
and  was  attended  by  those  Friends  from  all  over  the  town 
who  were  in  sympathy  with  the  new  thought. 

It  may  be  said  here,  in  explanation :  that  any  number  of 
Friends,  at  that  time,  could  meet  together  regularly  at  any 
time  and  place  they  desired ;  and  hold  meetings.  But  such 
a  meeting  was  not  officially  recognized,  nor  had  it  any 
power  of  legislation.  In  order  ta  become  officially  recog- 
nized it  was  necessary  to  make  a  request  to  the  Monthly 
Meeting  and  through  it  to  the  Quarterly  Meeting. 

One  of  the  weekly  newspapers,  'The  True  Republican," 
edited  by  Isaac  H.  Julian,  in  its  editorial  columns  gives, 
under  date  of  January  19,  1865,  the  following  account  of 
the  last  meeting  held  at  Old  Whitewater  before  Richmond 
Meeting  began  its  meetings. 

''We  attended  on  last  Sabbath  the  last  joint  session  of 
divine  service  which  will  be  held  by  the  old  Orthodox 
Friends  at  the  Old  Brick  Meeting  House  north  of  Rich- 
mond. The  final  separation  into  two  congregations,  one  of 
which  is  to  meet  hereafter  temporarily  in  the  German 
Methodist  Church,  south  of  Main  Street,  Richmond,  was 
attended  with  much  good  feeling,  and  several  impressive 
exhortations  were   made  by  leading    members    tending  to 

133 


Charles  F.  Coffin 

show  the  existence  of  a  good  feeHng  and  Christian  sym- 
pathy between  the  members  of  the  old  and  new  congrega- 
tions. Very  impressive  and  appropriate  remarks  were  made 
by  Susan  Pedrick,  Benjamin  Fulghum,  Levi  Jessup,  Louis 
Street,  Dr.  R.  E.  Haughton  and  Chas.  F.  Coffin,  all  counsel- 
ling harmony  and  Christian  co-operation.  The  division  we 
understand  is  made  in  order  to  accommodate  the  numerous 
members  now  residing  in  the  city. 

'The  'Friends  Meeting'  which  has  been  so  long  held  in 
the  old  Brick  Meeting  House  in  the  north  part  of  the  city 
having  become  very  large,  has  by  the  regular  order  of  the 
Church  been  divided,  and  a  new  meeting  composed  in  great 
measure  of  the  members  residing  south  of  Main  Street 
and  west  of  the  city,  has  been  established.  The  meetings 
for  divine  worship  will  be  held  for  the  next  few  months  in 
the  house  erected  for  the  German  Methodists,  on  south-east 
corner  of  Main  and  Market  Streets,  on  Fifth  day  morning 
at  10  o'clock,  and  First  day  at  10:30  A.  M.  and  7  P.  M. 

'The  public  are  respectfully  invited  to  attend." 

The  duly  authorized  and  official  Meetings  began  on 
January  15th,  1865,  and  were  called  "Richmond  Meeting," 
and  "Richmond  Preparative  Meeting,"  respectively. 

At  that  time  Levi  Jessup  had  just  been  recorded  as  a 
Minister.  In  1866  Chas.  F.  Coffin  was  also  recorded  a 
Minister,  and  others  were  added  from  time  to  time. 

The  meetings  were  held  in  the  German  Methodist  Church 
on  Sunday  mornings  and  evenings.  The  Bible  School  met 
on  Sunday  mornings  and  the  Mission  School  on  Sunday 
afternoons,  and  various  classes  of  Christian  work  were 
conducted  during  the  week. 

Finally,  it  became  evident  that  they  must  have  a  still 
larger  building,  and  so  a  few  Friends  formed  a  corporation, 
bought  ground,  and  in  1867  completed  the  South  Eighth 
Street  Meeting  House.  The  Prayer  Meeting  which  began 
in  1860  was  now  transferred  from  a  private  house  to  the 

134 


His  Evangelical  Period 

basement  of  the  new  home.  This  house  remained  in  the 
hands  of  a  corporation  for  more  than  twenty  years.  The 
corporation  then  dissolved  and  the  Meeting  became  the 
owner. 

And  so  these  people  educated  themselves  in  God's  work 
and  cultivated  their  field  of  labor  from  1860  to  1869,  and 
then  in  that  Prayer  Meeting  the  first  fruits  were  gathered, 
and  during  1869  and  1870  more  than  375  were  added  to  the 
membership  of  the  meeting.  These  were  substantial  people 
who  had  been  carefully  taught  in  the  very  simplest  and 
clearest  manner  possible.  So  they  were  fully  prepared  for 
a  change  in  their  lives,  and  thereafter  they  stood  firm.  Of 
course,  many  of  the  hundreds  of  people  who  have  attended 
that  Prayer  Meeting  in  the  53  years  of  its  life  have  gone  to 
their  reward.  But  at  any  time  in  the  past  whenever  two  of 
them  met  the  prayer  meeting  was  inquired  about  and  its 
work  and  effect  talked  over  with  joy  and  praise. 

"More  homelike  seems  the  vast  unknown 

Since  they  have  entered  there; 
To  follow  them  were  not  so  hard, 

Wherever  they  may  fare; 
They  cannot  be  where  GOD   is  not, 
On  any  sea  or  shore." 

-E.  C. 


135 


IV 

The  first  account  that  we  have  of  the  active  in- 
terest of  Charles  and  Rhoda  M.  Coffin  in  prison 
work  dates  back  to  the  first  of  March,  1864,  when 
they  accompanied  EHzabeth  L.  Comstock  to  Chi- 
cago. 

The  main  object  of  the  visit  was  to  see  the  rebel 
prisoners,  who  were  then  encamped  to  the  number 
of  about  seventeen  thousand  on  the  shore  of  Lake 
Michigan,  near  where  the  Douglas  monument  now 
stands.  They  were  confined  by  a  board  fence,  well 
guarded  by  soldiers,  in  small  board  huts  through 
which  the  March  winds  from  the  lake  whistled 
with  great  severity,  and  consequently  their  con- 
dition was  one  of  no  inconsiderable  discomfort. 
They  seemed  exceedingly  glad  to  see  some  one  who 
felt  an  interest  in  their  welfare;  as  were  also  the 
Union  soldiers  guarding  the  prisoners. 

While  they  were  in  the  city  they  visited  also 
all  the  prisons  and  public  institutions,  and  it  is  in- 
teresting to  note  that  a  called  meeting  of  Friends  on 
First  Day,  Third  Month,  Sixth,  was  the  first  of  the 
regular  meetings  of  Friends  in  the  city.  Friends 
of  all  branches  of  the  torn  Society  met  together 
here.  Elizabeth  L.  Comstock  later  returned  to  Chi- 
cago and  spent  the  greater  part  of  a  year  there  "in 
labors  amongst  Friends"  and  continuing  the  work 

137 


Charles  F.  Coffin 

for  which  she  was  famous  ''in  public  institutions 
and  amongst  the  poor  and  fallen." 

This  visit  to  enemy  prisoners  was  characteris- 
tically Ouakerly  and  is  a  pleasant  and  gracious  epi- 
sode to  record;  other  prison  work  in  which  he  was 
also  deeply  interested  at  the  time  was  not  of  such 
an  emergency  nature ;  much  the  best  energy  of  his 
mature  years  were  devoted  to  it. 

In  connection  with  his  superintendency  of  the 
mission  Bible  School  in  Richmond  during  the  Civil 
War,  it  had  become  a  matter  of  anxious  and  per- 
sonal concern,  developing  into  a  definite  conviction, 
that  something  must  be  done  for  the  care  and  re- 
formation of  wayward  and  incorrigible  boys  whose 
number  had  increased  under  the  unfavorable  con- 
ditions of  family  life  in  war-time. 

A  letter  to  Governor  Morton,  dated,  Richmond, 
Twelfth  Month  11,  1866,  sets  forth  his  concern: 

Gov.  Morton — Respected  Friend: 

When  I  last  saw  thee  we  were  speaking  upon  the  sub- 
ject of  a  Reform  Farm  or  House  of  Refuge  for  Juvenile 
Offenders.  The  arguments  which  have  always  existed  for 
such  institutions,  and  which  no  doubt  led  to  the  introduc- 
tion of  the  clause  in  our  Constitution  making  it  imperative 
upon  the  General  Assembly  to  ''provide  houses  of  refuge  for 
the  conviction  and  reformation  of  Juvenile  Offenders,"  are 

1st.  In  every  community  boys  will  be  enticed  into  crime, 
particularly  those  who  are  left  without  parental  care. 

2nd.  The  great  object  should  be  to  reform  such  as  are 
thus  misled,  and  restore  them  to  society  as  useful  members, 
this  is  far  more  important  than  the  mere  punishment  of  the 
offender. 

138 


His  Evangelical  Period 

3rd.  Under  our  present  system  in  this  State,  boys  who 
have  been  guilty  of  crime  can  only  be  punished  by  throwing 
them  first  into  county  jails  and  afterwards  into  the  State 
Prisons,  where  they  are  brought  into  contact  with  old  of- 
fenders, and  come  out  degraded  and  demoralized,  and 
roughly  educated  in  the  school  of  crime.  Their  future 
course  in  life  is  sure  to  be  an  evil  one.  Houses  of  Refuge 
provided  in  several  of  the  States  have  been  found  an  ad- 
mirable substitute  for  Prisons  for  Boys.  In  them  a  sys- 
tem of  training  especially  adapted  to  boys  has  been  adopted. 
Suitable  trades  are  learned  them,  attention  is  paid  to  their 
education,  and  they  come  out  disciplined  and  improved  in 
habits,  with  the  ability  to  make  their  own  living,  and  with- 
out that  stigma  and  feeling  of  self  degradation  which  at- 
tached to  Prison  life.     These  two  objects  are  effected,  viz : 

1st:  The  removal  from  Society  of  Juvenile  offenders 
who  are  a  nuisance  and  a  pest  to  it. 

2nd.  The  return  to  Society,  in  due  season,  of  the  same 
boys  transformed  into  useful  citizens. 

The  result  of  years  of  experience  have  abundantly 
proved  that  such  results  have  followed  in  Houses  of  Refuge, 
with  a  very  large  proportion  of  those  who  are  committed  to 
them.  The  system  of  ''Reform  Farms"  as  adopted  in  Ohio 
and  Massachusetts  has  much  to  commend  it.  Could  we 
not  in  Indiana  have  both  systems.  A  house  of  Refuge  and 
a  Reform  Farm,  both  of  moderate  dimensions,  and  under 
careful  arrangement  might  be  filled,  with  great  profit  to 
the  community. 

Now  as  to  the  especial  necessity  for  such  institutions 
at  the  present  time,  allow  me  to  present  the  following  facts 
which  have  come  under  my  own  observation.  I  doubt  not 
the  same  state  of  things  exists  in  other  parts  of  the  State. 

In  Richmond  at  the  close  of  the  war  there  were  more 
than  500  children  whose  fathers  had  entered  the  army, 
many  of  these  were  very  unfavorably  situated,  in  many  in- 

139 


Charles  F.  Coffin 

stances  the  mothers  were  very  unsuitable  caretakers,  many 
of  these  fathers  have  never  returned,  many  of  them  fill  a 
soldier's  grave,  their  children  have  grown  up  without 
parental  restraint,  and  in  many  cases,  with  no  care  and 
oversight,  the  result  is  that  there  is  a  large  share  of  un- 
governable boys  in  the  community.  They  are  given  to  false- 
hood, profanity,  deception,  and  frequently  petty  thieving, 
expelled  from  one  school  after  another,  discarded  first  from 
society  they  grow  up  in  idleness  and  vice.  If  arrested  for 
a  petty  offense  sympathy  for  their  unfortunate  condition 
and  surrounding  prevents  committing  them  to  prison,  to  be 
made  worse,  and  thus  they  go  on  without  restraint.  It  is 
true  the  number  of  such  cases  is  not  large,  but  there  are  a 
few  in  almost  every  community.  An  effort  to  collect  such 
into  Sabbath  Schools  and  give  them  some  religious  instruc- 
tions has  forcibly  shown  that  but  little  can  be  done  for  them 
until  their  surroundings  are  changed  and  different  influences 
are  thrown  around  them.  There  is  an  imperative  call  on 
the  Legislative  body  to  provide  some  means  by  which  such 
boys  may  be  restrained  from  vice  and  trained  for  useful- 
ness. As  they  grow  older  in  years  they  grow  more  bold 
in  crime.  This  is  shown  by  the  fact  that  a  large  proportion 
of  the  convicts  in  our  State  Prisons  are  young  men.  Is  it 
not  better  to  check  this  in  its  earlier  stages  ? 

I  have  alluded  above  especially  to  boys,  there  are  also 
in  many  parts  of  our  State,  particularly  in  our  large  towns 
and  cities,  incorrigible  young  girls,  many  of  whom  have  en- 
tered upon  a  career  of  infamy  and  crime  while  very  young. 
Some  place  is  needed  where  such  may  be  kept  and  pro- 
tected. The  number  would  not  be  as  large  as  that  of  boys 
— a  part  of  the  House  of  Refuge  or  a  "Home"  on  the  Re- 
form Farm  might  be  assigned  for  that  use. 

With  highest  personal  regard,  I  am  thy  friend, 

Chas.  F.  Coffin. 

140 


His  Evangelical  Period 

The  governor  sent  a  special  message  to  the 
legislature  then  sitting,  advising  a  consideration  of 
the  matter,  with  the  result  that  a  board  of  commis- 
sioners was  appointed  with  Charles  F.  Coffin  its 
chairman;  and  later  he  was  the  entirely  successful 
president  of  the  board  of  control  of  the  new  juve- 
nile reformatory. 

A  letter  written  in  November,  1867,  shows  that 
he  and  Rhoda  M.  Coffin  had  visited  the  state  prison 
at  Jeffersonville.  He  asks  the  warden  diplomatic- 
ally but  courageously  to  remedy  certain  abuses  of 
sanitation,  and  punishment,  to  supply  the  manual 
and  literary  education  provided  for  by  state  law, 
and  to  see  that  religious  instruction  and  privileges 
were  available. 

By  1870,  not  only  had  the  House  of  Refuge  for 
Juvenile  Offenders  been  established  at  Plainfield 
and  a  change  of  management  made  at  the  Jeffer- 
sonville penitentiary,  but  in  addition  a  Home  for 
Friendless  Women  had  been  organized  at  Rich- 
mond, with  a  jail  attached  wherein  women  could  be 
incarcerated  apart  from  men  prisoners.  A  law  had 
been  passed  in  1869,  authorizing  a  Girls'  Reforma- 
tory and  Women's  Prison;  in  1877  the  entire  man- 
agement was  placed  in  the  hands  of  women. 

This  work  had  by  no  means  been  done  alone. 
Almost  the  first  step  taken  by  the  Coffins  had  been 
to  present  the  matter  to  the  Meeting  for  Sufferings 
of  Indiana  Yearly  Meeting,  and  that  Meeting  ap- 
pointed a  committee  on  Prison  Reform,  of  which 

141 


Charles  F.  Coffin 

committee  Timothy  Nicholson,  now  (1923)  living 
was  a  charter  member.  The  committee  continued 
active  until  1909  when  it  was  recognized  that  it  had 
been  supplanted  by  an  organization  largely  of  its 
own  creation,  the  Board  of  State  Charities,  estab- 
lished by  the  Legislature  of  1888-89. 

The  prison  work  of  Charles  and  Rhoda  M?. 
Coffin  can  hardly  be  separated  from  their  interest 
in  the  care  and  treatment  of  the  insane.  This  in- 
terest, developing  through  a  long  period,  was  ac- 
centuated by  a  knowledge  of  the  crude  methods  em- 
ployed in  the  treatment  of  a  relative  of  Rhoda  M. 
Coffin,  lodged  in  the  barracks-like  institution,  called 
the  Central  Hospital  for  the  Insane  and  located  at 
Indianapolis. 

In  1880  they  began  working,  in  connection  with 
others  of  the  state  including  the  Quaker  committee 
on  Prison  Reform,  on  an  investigation  of  the  con- 
dition of  the  insane  patients  of  the  state,  and  they 
were  able  to  influence  radically  for  the  better  the 
out-dated  methods  of  restraint,  violence  and  isola- 
tion practiced  in  the  state  hospitals;  to  introduce 
the  cottage  system  of  caring  for  the  insane;  and 
later,  to  take  the  whole  system  out  of  politics. 

We  note  in  this  connection  the  warm  friendship 
between  Rhoda  M.  Coffin  and  Dr.  and  Mrs.  W.  B. 
Fletcher,  who  were  in  charge  of  the  Central  Hos- 
pital for  the  Insane  in  the  year  1883.  Dr.  Fletcher, 
who  later  became  one  of  the  noted  alienists  of  the 
United  States,  was  in  sympathy  with  her  humane 

142 


His  Evangelical  Period 

ideals.  Many  valued  friendships  can  be  traced  to 
this  period.  They  had  attended  the  National  Prison 
Congress  at  Cincinnati  in  1870  as  delegates;  in 
1871  and  1872  they  had,  after  consultation  with 
Governor  Conrad  Baker  and  Governor  Morton, 
now  United  States  Senator,  made  a  trip  through 
Ireland,  Scotland,  England,  Belgium,  France  and 
Germany  to  inspect  prisons  and  learn  the  methods 
of  management  in  use  in  these  countries.  In  1882 
they  made  another  European  trip  in  which  they  vis- 
ited the  insane  hospitals  of  England  and  Scotland. 
In  all  these  journeys  they  had  made  personal  friend- 
ships with  enlightened  prison  officials  and  become 
acquainted  with  the  most  approved  methods  of  ad- 
ministration. 

What  fundamental  ideas  governed  the  Coffins  in 
their  work  on  prison  reform?  We  may  summar- 
ize the  following  from  a  considerable  number  of 
pamphlets  published  by  them: 

First:  Capital  punishment  was  unlawful  and 
unwise.  God  gave  life  and  God  alone  could  take  it. 
Such  power  was  not  delegated  to  the  State.  Also 
capital  punishment  was  a  mistake — not  a  deterrent 
— and  demoralizing  to  the  community. 

Second :  Society  had  no  right  to  punish  for  the 
sake  of  punishment  and  no  good  could  come  there- 
from ;  on  the  contrary,  harm  always  followed. 

Third :  Society  had  the  right  to  segregate  and 
confine  unruly  elements,  but  were  thereby  bound  to 
provide  for  the  reform  of  the  criminal  character 

143 


Charles  F.  Coffin 

by  religious,  intellectual,  social  and  industrial 
training. 

Fourth :  Most  criminals  were  social  weaklings, 
but  it  was  possible  to  make  them  useful  members 
of  society;  but  not  by  strictly  punitive  measures 
only. 

Fifth:  The  unfortunate,  children,  idiots,  epi- 
leptics and  insane  should  not  be  herded  with  crim- 
inals, nor  branded  as  law-breakers  but  for  their  own 
protection  should  be  mothered  by  society,  and  an 
attempt  made  to  train  them  into  a  capacity  for 
some  useful  occupation,  or  to  cure  them  of  their 
disorders  or  to  care  for  them  as  incompetents. 

These  ideas  were  in  advance  of  the  social  in- 
stinct of  the  time  in  which  they  lived  and  as  yet  they 
have  been  only  partially  apprehended  or  accepted. 

The  idea  of  punishment  for  its  own  sake — re- 
vengeful punishment — is  uppermost  in  the  minds 
of  men,  and  the  care  of  the  unfortunate  is  an  un- 
pleasant subject  which  possesses  no  interest  to  the 
average  citizen.  Society  still  poisons  itself  by  its 
own  neglect  and  thereby  multiplies  the  evils  which 
it  seeks  to  correct  through  force. 

Rhoda  M.  Coffin  once  said,  ''You  cannot  force 
goodness  into  a  man;  only  the  love  of  God  can  re- 
generate him,  and  only  through  the  love  shown  him 
by  his  fellow  men  can  he  have  knowledge  of  the 
love  of  God." 


144 


His  Evangelical  Period 


'^xmttttir  pr|i»fttttnif . 


a-ty-      ^  ^ 


145 


Charles  F.  Coffin 


"^xrrttttur  P^»ittw«t . 


146 


His  Evangelical  Period 


(2X.  ^  a.u  a./QM-d^    M^Aou   h/oAjiJc  ^^  V/7/ 


(M:&- — 


147 


Charles  F.  Coffin 


A 


148 


V. 

The  close  of  the  Civil  War  left  Friends  anxious 
that  the  country  might  be  restored  to  a  healthy 
state  of  peace,  and  they  felt  impelled,  on  the  as- 
sassination of  Lincoln  to  send  to  Andrew  John- 
son a  message  promising  their  support  in  healing 
and  constructive  measures. 

Charles  F.  Coffin  says,  '1  was  chairman  of  the 
committee  sent  with  the  address  from  Indiana 
Yearly  Meeting  and  went  to  Washington  in  com- 
pany with  one  or  two  other  Friends.  We  procured 
a  introduction  through  Hugh  McCulloch,  who  was 
then  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  but  with  whom  I 
had  served  for  many  years,  as  an  officer  in  the 
Richmond  branch  of  the  Bank  of  the  State,  when 
he  was  president  of  the  Bank  of  the  State  with  an 
office  located  at  Indianapolis.  I  read  the  address 
to  the  President  and  he  made  a  nice  reply,  and  we 
felt  that  good  would  arise  from  showing  the  kind 
and  sympathetic  feeling  of  the  Society  of  Friends 
for  him  under  the  circumstances  in  which  he  was 
placed.  The  address  follows: 
To  Andrew  Johnson,  President  of  the  United  States: 

Indiana  Yearly  Meeting  of  Friends,  composing  that 
part  of  the  Society  of  Friends  residing  in  the  eastern  part 
of  Indiana,  and  western  part  of  Ohio,  by  its  Meeting  for 
Sufferings  (representing  the  Yearly  Meeting  in  the  recess) 
held  at  Richmond,  Indiana,  Sixth  Month  1st,  1865  desires 
to  respectfully  address  thee. 

149 


Charles  F.  Coffin 

First.  We  concur  fully  in  the  expression  in 
the  Address  delivered  to  thee  on  the  4th  of  last 
month,  by  a  deputation  of  our  religious  Society  on 
behalf  of  their  brethren  throughout  the  United 
States.  We  mourn  the  loss  of  our  late  beloved  Pres- 
ident and  desire  to  extend  to  thee  the  same  cordial 
support  and  confidence  which  it  was  our  privilege 
to  extend  to  him.  Our  prayer  is  that  thy  hands  may 
be  strengthened  by  the  hands  of  the  mighty  God 
of  Jacob;  and  that  while  feeling  weight  of  the  re- 
sponsibility resting  upon  thee  thou  mayest  call  upon 
the  Lord  for  help,  and  realize  that  He  has  heard 
thee. 

Second.  We  would  earnestly  ask  of  thee  the 
extension  of  mercy  towards  those  who  have 
transgressed  the  laws  of  our  land.  Our  blessed 
Savior  says  ^'forgive  and  you  shall  be  forgiven." 
The  Lord  is  gracious,  long  suffering  and  plenteous 
in  mercy.  If  He  thus  deals  with  us,  should  we  not 
forgive  our  brethren  their  trespasses.  We  be- 
lieve that  a  course  of  kindness  and  mercy  would  be 
well  pleasing  in  the  Divine  sight,  and  that  it  would 
tend  to  strengthen  the  government,  and  attach 
the  people  thereto,  and  that  blessings  would  rest 
upon  thee.  In  all  thy  acts,  may  justice  be  tempered 
with  mercy,  and  such  course  be  pursued  that  the 
shedding  of  blood  may  cease  in  our  beloved 
country. 

Third.  Whilst  pleading  for  mercy  towards  the 
erring  we  would  also  raise  our  voice  for  the  poor, 
the  downtrodden  and  the  afflicted,  that  such  course 
may  be  pursued  as  will  elevate  the  poorer  class 
of  whites  and  lead  to  the  extension  to  them  of  all 
civil  rights  and  privileges,  and  the  diffusion  of  edu- 
cation and  intelligence  amongst  them ;  and  as  God 

150 


His  Evangelical  Period 

has  made  of  one  blood  all  nations  of  men,  and  all 
men  are  created  equal,  toward  those  who  have 
been  enslaved  and  kept  in  degradation  and  bond- 
age we  desire  to  see  the  most  liberal  course  pur- 
sued and  that  all  the  rights  which  God  has  given 
to  men  may  be  extended  to  them;  that  the  foster- 
ing and  protecting  care  of  the  government  may  be 
thrown  around  them :  that  all  political  distinc- 
tions on  account  of  color  may  be  removed,  and  that 
we  may  now,  by  a  course  of  justice  towards  them 
make  such  amends  as  is  in  our  power  for  the 
suffering  and  misery  which  have  heretofore  been 
inflicted  upon  them. 

We  know,  while  making  these  requests,  that  it  is  not 
in  thy  province  to  make,  but  to  execute  the  laws  of  the 
land,  but  at  the  same  time  there  may  be  many  ways  in 
which  it  will  be  in  thy  power  in  the  execution  of  thy  legiti- 
mate duties  to  carry  out  the  suggestions  we  now  make. 

May  God  endue  thee  with  that  wisdom  which  is  profit- 
able to  direct,  so  that  thy  administration  may  result  to  the 
good  of  the  country  and  to  His  glory,  and  in  the  end  yield 
thee  that  peace  which  passeth  all  understanding. 

Signed  by  direction  and  on  behalf  of  the  Meeting. 

Levy  Jessup,  Clerk. 

More   specific   recommendations   are   made   in   his   per- 
sonal letter  written  to  his  friend,  Governor  Morton,  which 
foreshadows  also  his  work  for  the  boys'  reformatory. 
Gov.  Morton. 
Respected  Friend: 

Advice  is  said  to  be  a  cheap  commodity  and  much  of  it 
is  gratuitously  given.  I  do  not  wish  to  be  understood  as 
giving  advice,  but  beg  leave  to  make  a  few  suggestions 
with  the  freedom  of  a  personal  friend. 

The  provisions  of  our  State  Constitution  and  laws  (as 
very   ably   attested   to   in   thy   Richmond   speech)    in   rela- 

151 


Charles  F.  Coffin 

tion  to  Negroes  are  entirely  repugnant  to  the  enlightened 
spirit  of  the  age — contrary  to  the  precepts  of  the  Gospel 
— unjust  and  oppressive. 

Wouldst  thou  not  feel,  in  thy  message  to  the  Called 
Session,  like  calling  attention  to  and  urging  the  repeal  at 
once  of  the  laws  forbidding  Negroes  to  testify  in  cases 
where  Whites  are  parties  in  interest;  and  also  the  pro- 
vision that  prevents  them  from  partaking  of  the  benefits  of 
the  common  schools. 

I  need  not  argue  the  reasons  for  this  course,  thy  own 
common  sense  and  judgment  will  I  doubt  not  make  thee 
entertain  a  correct  view  upon  the  subject. 

I  think  too  that  thou  might  with  propriety  urge  the 
taking  of  the  necessary  steps  to  repeal  the  constitutional 
provisions  relative  to  Negroes  and  Mulattos.  And  this 
might  be  done  without  touching  the  question  of  SufiVage. 
It  is,  I  confess,  an  open  question.  I  like  the  noble  and 
earnest  views  expressed  in  thy  Richmond  speech  and  can 
subscribe  fully  to  most  of  them.  So  strong  are  my  views 
on  the  equal  rights  of  men  that  I  admit  now  the  right  of 
Suffrage  to  all  zmthont  regard  to  color.  If  I  made  Educa- 
tion and  Intelligence  a  test  (as  I  am  inclined  to  think  thee 
intended)   I  would  apply  it  equally  to  blacks  and  whites. 

I  believe  thy  own  views  on  the  subjects  named  are 
sound,  that  a  plain  outspoken  course  in  regard  to  them  in 
thy  message  would  be  characteristic  of  thee,  would  tend 
to  add  to  thy  already  well  earned  reputation;  would  be 
something  to  which  in  future  years  thou  couldst  look  back 
with  pleasure ;  and  would  tend  to  form  and  mould  the 
opinion  and  action  of  the  party  of  which  thou  are  the 
leader  in  this  State. 

I  am  sorry  I  did  not  see  thee  when  here — it  was  during 
our  Yearly  Meeting  and  I  was  over-run  with  duties,  com- 
pany, etc.  I  regret  much  to  hear  of  thy  ill  health  and  hope 
ere  this  it  may  be  better,  and  that  thy  life  may  long  be 

152 


His  Evangelical  Period 

spared  for  usefulness  to  thy  Country,  and  to  the  world.  I 
look  upon  it  as  very  important  to  a  public  man,  that  his 
positions  on  all  the  great  questions  which  are  agitating 
the  public  mind,  in  the  eventful  era  in  which  it  is  our 
privilege  to  live,  should  be  based  on  sound  principles,  which 
are  far  more  enduring  than  any  merely  political  grounds. 

Wilst  thou  allow  me  also  to  call  thy  attention  to  the  pro- 
visions of  our  Constitution  relative  to  Homes  of  Refuge 
for  Juvenile  Offenders — we  need  something  of  the  kind 
badly.  One  of  the  evil  effects  of  the  war  has  been  a  great 
increase  in  ''bad  boys"  the  reasons  for  which  are  apparent 
to  me. 

I  think  the  Ohio  Reform  School  at  Lancaster  has  been 
a  decided  success  (I  have  not  had  occasion  to  inquire  into  it 
lately)  and  wouldst  rejoice  to  see  such  a  one  in  our  State. 
At  any  rate  something  of  its  kind.  Would  it  not  be  a 
proper  request  again  to  call  the  attention  of  our  Legisla- 
ture thereto? 

Friends  will  probably  be  before  the  Legislature  with  a 
provision  relative  to  some  of  the  points  named  in  this 
letter  but  a  suggestion  in  thy  message  will  be  worth  more 
than  all  else. 

Excuse  my   freedom  and  earnestness  and  believe  me 
Very  truly  thy  friend, 

C.  F.  Coffin. 

Friends  had  maintained  their  testimony  against 
war  during  the  course  of  the  Civil  War,  but  they 
had  made  no  sustained  efforts  to  preach  a  propa- 
ganda against  all  wars.  In  1865,  Ohio  Yearly 
Meeting  presented  to  the  other  orthodox  yearly 
Meetings  a  proposition  to  co-operate  in  a  sustained 
effort  to  promulgate  the  principles  of  Friends  on 
the  subject,  and  proposed  that  a  general  conference 

153 


Charles  F.  Coffin 

be  held.  Indiana  Yearly  Meeting  of  the  same  year 
united  with  this  request  and  proposed  a  committee 
to  attend  such  a  conference,  and  of  this  commit- 
tee Charles  F.  Coffin  was  a  member. 

The  conference  was  held  at  Baltimore  in 
Eleventh  Month,  1866,  and  was  adjourned  from 
that  place  to  meet  in  Richmond  on  the  13th  of 
Third  Month,  1867.  At  this  conference  the  yearly 
meetings  of  New  York,  Baltimore,  North  Caro- 
lina, Ohio,  Indiana  and  Western  were  represented. 

Three  propositions  were  submitted  by  the  busi- 
ness committee.  The  first  recommended  that 
Friends  memoriaHze  Congress  on  the  subject  of 
settling  international  disputes  without  resort  to  the 
sword.  The  conference  prepared  such  a  memorial 
which  Baltimore  Friends  were  instructed  to  pre- 
sent to  Congress. 

Many  of  the  delegates  had  little  faith  in  memor- 
ials or  in  the  issuing  of  public  documents  unless 
these  were  followed  by  persistent  efforts  along 
other  lines,  and  Charles  F.  Coffin  urged  that  a 
general  educational  campaign  be  inaugurated,  to 
which  Dougan  Clark  added  the  pertinent  comment 
that  it  was  useless  to  try  to  do  anything  with  gov- 
ernments until  the  people  are  right;  that  the  so- 
called  Christian  church  was  the  bulwark  of  slav- 
ery for  more  than  one  hundred  years  and  was 
now  the  bulwark  of  war;  with  it,  he  said  was  the 
place  to  work. 

To  this  the  business  committee  proposed  that 
154 


His  Evangelical  Period 

each  Yearly  Meeting  appoint  three  Friends  to  unite 
as  a  committee  on  the  subject  of  peace,  and  that 
these  meetings  raise  the  sum  total  of  $10,000  per 
annum  to  be  expended  by  such  committees  in  the 
promotion  of  the  cause. 

Indiana  Yearly  Meeting  accepted  the  proposi- 
tion, appointed  its  committee  and  directed  its  share 
of  the  money  to  be  raised;  the  Peace  Association  of 
Friends  in  America  was  formally  organized  at 
Damascus,  Ohio,  Eleventh  Month,  1867,  and 
opened  offices  in  Vienna  of  the  same  state,  v^dth 
Daniel  Hill  as  its  first  president,  John  Henry 
Douglas,  secretary,  and  Murray  Shipley  its  treas- 
urer. Difficulty  arose  at  once  over  the  question  of 
inviting  other  denominations  to  co-operate;  some 
Friends  were  so  bitterly  opposed  that  the  matter 
was  left  in  abeyance.  In  this  Charles  F.  Coffin 
took  the  wider  view. 

Perhaps  the  most  important  work  of  this  first 
meeting  of  the  Association  was  the  little  statement 
made  by  the  chairman  at  adjournment: 

"We  have  a  great  and  wide  work  before  us;  let  none 
be  discouraged.  In  looking  back  nearly  two  centuries  to 
the  action  of  North  Carolina  Yearly  Meeting  on  the  subject 
of  slavery,  we  find  encouragement.  At  first,  only  here  and 
there,  an  individual  rose  up  to  testify  against  it;  but  the 
work  grew  and  spread.  At  first  it  was  only  a  little  thread 
of  a  stream,  but  it  progressed  to  a  mighty  river — agoing  on 
and  on,  gathering  strength,  until  the  work  was  done.  We, 
my  Friends,  have  lived  to  see  it.  One  of  our  'Testimonies" 
has  thus  triumphed — has  nearly  been  worked  out.     Let  us 

155 


Charles  F.  Coffin 

then,  looking  at  the  faithfulness  of  these  who  labored  for 
this,  take  up  another  "Testimony"  and  go  on  with  it ;  it  too, 
will  ultimately  work  out,  with  our  faithfulness  and  God's 
blessing;  little  by  little  our  principles  will  prevail." 

An  unlocked  for  and  ironic  difficulty  met  the 
Peace  Association  of  Friends  when  it  began  its 
propaganda.  Every  one  agreed  that  peace  must 
prevail ;  every  one  was  sick  of  war  and  did  not  wish 
to  hear  about  it.  Slavery  had  been  abolished  and 
there  was  no  cause  for  another  Civil  War.  A  war 
of  aggression  was  contrary  to  our  national  ideals 
and  a  war  undertaken  in  alliance  with  European 
powers  beyond  the  bounds  of  possibility.  We  had 
fought  our  last  war. 

Note:  There  is  deposited  in  Earlham  College  library  a  copy 
of  "The  American  Friend  and  Freedman's  Record,"  Vol.  1,  No.  4, 
published  at  Richmond,  Indiana,  Fourth  Month,  1867,  by  T.  Har- 
rison, Eli  Jay  and  Mahala  Jay,  giving  a  report  of  the  Peace  Con- 
ference held  at  Richmond,  beginning  on  the  13th  of  the  Third 
Month,   1867. 


156 


VI 

Other  work  growing  naturally  out  of  his  po- 
sition among  Friends  and  his  own  interests  was 
that  of  the  guardianship  of  the  Indians,  which  a 
perplexed  government  was  endeavoring  to  place 
in  more  capable  hands  than  its  own.  Charles  F. 
Coffin's  own  story  is  here  given: 

The  war  closed  in  1865;  President  Grant's  first  term 
commenced  in  1869.  Immediately  after  his  inauguration 
he  sent  for  Senator  Morton,  who  stood  politically  very 
near  to  him,  and  was  his  most  trusted  and  confidential  ad- 
viser, and  said  to  him  that  he  was  troubled  about  the  re- 
lations of  the  Government  with  the  Indians.  As  a  military 
officer  he  had  had  some  experience  with  them,  and  realized 
the  fact  that  the  constant  pressure  of  civilization  and  of 
the  settlement  of  the  whites  around  them  was  the  cause  of 
great  irritation,  and  that  those  first  border  settlers  were 
generally  a  loose  class  of  men,  who  cared  litde  for  the  rights 
and  privileges  of  the  Indians,  and  had  little  regard  for 
human  life  in  their  dealings  with  them ;  that  the  Indians  be- 
ing unciviHzed  and  possessing  inherited  bad  traits  of  char- 
acter, were  often  led  to  reprisals,  so  that  between  the  two 
there  was  constant  irritation  kept  up,  which  involved  fre- 
quently the  use  of  the  United  States  Troops  and  caused, 
in  some  instances,  great  sacrifice  of  human  Hfe  and  prop- 
erty. 

Governor  Morton  had  grown  up  amongst  Friends  in 
Indiana  and  was  thoroughly  acquainted  with  their  peace 
principles  and  with  their  kindly  feeling  towards  the  ab- 
origines of  the  country.  He  at  once  in  his  decisive  manner 
suggested  to  General  Grant  that  they  turn  them  over  to  the 

157 


Charles  F.  Coffin 

Quakers.  The  suggestion  struck  President  Grant  favor- 
ably and  measures  were  set  on  foot  at  once  to  communi- 
cate with  some  leading  members  of  the  Society  and  see 
what  they  thought  of  undertaking  the  business.  My  name 
was  suggested  amongst  other  Friends  and  an  interview  was 
had  within  a  short  time  with  the  President  and  the  Secretary 
of  the  Interior  in  reference  to  the  business.  Friends  felt 
keenly  the  responsibility  of  undertaking  so  large  a  charge, 
and  expressed  the  preference  that  other  Christian  Societies 
should  also  take  hold  of  the  matter.  It  finally  resulted  in 
giving  the  different  religious  bodies  charge  of  certain  tribes 
of  Indians,  with  the  authority  to  propose  to  the  Government 
suitable  Indian  Agents,  the  Government  to  turn  over  to  the 
religious  societies  the  whole  management  of  the  tribes  which 
were  placed  in  their  charge. 

This  led  to  the  appointment  of  what  was  called  the  "As- 
sociated Executive  Committee  of  Friends  on  Indian  Affairs" 
which  was  made  up  of  two  Friends  from  each  Yearly 
Meeting  upon  the  continent.  In  selecting  these,  the  dif- 
ferent Yearly  Meetings  chose  some  of  the  most  substantial 
men,  and  generally  men  of  sufficient  means  to  devote  con- 
siderable time  and  money  to  the  business  on  account  of  their 
interest  in  it.  The  meetings  of  this  Committee  were  exceed- 
ingly interesting  occasions.  The  Committee  was  divided 
into  sub-committees,  one  of  which,  called  the  Washington 
Committee,  attended  to  the  business  in  connection  with  the 
Government;  another,  the  Religious  Committee,  looked 
after  the  Mission  work  amongst  them ;  a  third,  the  Educa- 
tional Committee,  after  the  educational  work. 

The  Washington  Committee,  of  which  I  was  a  mem- 
ber for  many  years,  paid  frequent  visits  to  Washington  City 
and  communicated  personally  with  the  President  and  the 
Secretary  of  the  Interior  and  the  Commissioner  of  Indian 
Affairs  in  reference  to  the  work.  I  was  for  many  years  clerk 
of  the  Associated  Executive  Committee  and  Chairman  of 

158 


His  Evangelical  Period 

the  Committee  on  Religious  Interests,  as  well  as  a  member  of 
the  Washington  Committee,  and  hence  had  very  much  to  do 
with  the  work,  having  a  large  amount  of  correspondence 
with  the  mission  workers  in  the  various  tribes  and  being 
kept  fully  advised  of  all  the  operations  that  were  going  on. 
The  work  proved  to  be  an  interesting  one,  and  involved  a 
large  amount  of  labor  and  care.  Meetings  of  the  Associated 
Executive  Committee  were  held  twice  in  the  year  at  different 
places,  involving  a  large  amount  of  travel  and  expense, 
which  was  borne  by  the  members  of  the  Committee  per- 
sonally. During  the  15  or  20  years  that  I  was  engaged  in 
the  work,  I  traveled  many  thousands  of  miles  in  attend- 
ing these  meetings,  which  were  held  at  various  points  from 
Newport,  Rhode  Island  to  Lawrence,  Kansas,  and  ex- 
pended a  large  amount  of  money,  not  only  in  travel,  but  in 
carrying  forward  the  work  of  the  Committee,  probably  not 
less  than  $3,000,  although  I  never  kept  an  accurate  account 
of  this,  as  it  is  one  of  the  benevolent  works  of  my  life,  of 
which  no  record  was  kept  at  the  time. 

The  Committee  had  much  difficulty  in  procuring  suit- 
able men  for  Agents.  There  had  been  so  much  corruption 
in  this  line  of  business  that  it  required  a  man  of  great 
firmness  and  Christian  experience  to  avoid  efforts  which 
were  made  by  traders  and  others  to  use  the  agents  to  their 
personal  advantage.  It  required  also  on  the  part  of  the 
agents  a  business  knowledge  to  attend  to  the  disbursements 
of  large  sums  of  money,  and  keep  correct  accounts  and 
make  frequent  settlements  with  the  Government.  For  all 
these  things  the  Associated  Executive  Committee  held  itself, 
in  a  way,  responsible  and  was  careful  to  supervise  the  work 
of  the  Agents.  For  this  purpose  a  general  agent  was  em- 
ployed, whose  whole  time  was  devoted  to  it.  This  work 
was  done  for  many  years  by  Dr.  William  Nicholson. 

While  there  were  many  difficulties  and  unpleasant  things 
connected    with    the    work,    there    was    a    continued    and 

159 


Charles  F.  Coffin 

marked  progress  of  improvement  among  the  Indians.  Once 
or  twice  there  were  outbreaks  among  the  tribes  where  our 
Friends  were  stationed,  but  they  were  soon  subdued  with 
little  damage. 

It  may  not  be  improper  to  say  that  in  carrying  out  his 
pacific  policy,  General  Grant's  Secretary  of  the  Interior, 
James  Harlan  of  Iowa,  sent  for  me  and  offered  me  the  po- 
sition of  Commissioner  of  Indian  Affairs,  which  I  did  not 
feel  at  liberty  to  accept  and  had  respectfully  to  decline. 
This  ofTer  was  repeated  under  a  subsequent  administration, 
but  was  again  declined. 

C.  F.  C. 

Note :  In  connection  with  the  Indians,  my  attention  has  been 
called  to  the  fact  that  Benjamin  Tatham,  a  valued  Friend  of  New 
York,  and  a  man  of  ability  and  influence  in  that  City,  felt  it  his 
duty  to  go  to  Washington  City  to  visit  President  Grant  about  the 
Indians.  In  the  conversation  which  took  place  between  them, 
he  said  to  the  President,  "Thou  knows  that  the  Indians  under 
proper  treatment  are  as  easily  controlled  as  children."  The  Presi- 
dent replied,  "Yes,  I  know  that  for  I  have  been  among  them," 
and  added,  "Mr.  Tatham,  I  will  turn  them  all  over  to  the  Quakers 
to  care  for  them."  "No,  General  Grant,  that  is  too  large  a  con- 
tract; give  certain  tribes  to  Friends  and  assign  the  others  to 
the  other  religious  bodies,"  which  was  done.  Out  of  this  con- 
versation and  the  suggestion  of  Gov.  Morton  arose  what  was 
known  as  "Grant's  Indian  Policy,"  which  was  so  pre-eminently 
successful.  Benjamin  Tatham  was  afterwards  an  active  mem- 
ber of  the  "Associated  Executive  Committee  of  Friends  on  Indian 
Affairs"  and  always  possessed  much  influence  with  the  Govern- 
ment at  Washington. 


160 


VII 

Charles  F.  Coffin  was  twice  offered  the  posi- 
tion of  Commissioner  of  Indian  Affairs  by  General 
Grant,  and  he  was  also  asked  by  his  old  friend, 
Hugh  McCuUough,  when  Secretary  of  the  Treas- 
ury, to  become  Comptroller  of  the  Currency. 
Neither  of  these  positions  did  he  feel  free  to  ac- 
cept, and  though  he  could  say  at  the  end  of  his  life 
that  he  had  consistently  voted  the  Republican  ticket 
since  the  party  was  first  formed  in  1856,  and 
though  his  acquaintance  with  political  men  of  both 
parties  was  wide,  he  used  neither  for  any  political 
preferment  for  himself. 

We  have  seen  how  his  friendship  for  Governor 
Morton  was  of  advantage  in  his  work  for  prison 
reform ;  in  connection  with  this  he  also  met  Ruther- 
ford B.  Hayes,  and  his  account  of  a  man  who  has 
slipped  into  the  background  of  history  is  pleasant 
to  read. 

"I  was  afterwards  called  to  have  an  interview  with 
Governor  Hayes  in  connection  with  some  citizens  of  Ohio 
in  regard  to  the  prison  system  of  the  state.  He  accorded 
us  a  full  and  satisfactory  interview,  and  afterwards  in  his 
messages  and  intercourse  with  the  Legislature,  thoroughly 
sustained  the  views  which  had  been  advocated  by  the  com- 
mittee. Afterwards,  when  he  occupied  the  position  of 
President  of  the  United  States  it  was  my  privilege  to  meet 
him  at  several  different  times  in  connection  with  the  work 
amongst  the  Indians,  commenced  by  General  Grant.  Presi- 

161 


Charles  F.  Coffin 

dent  Hayes  showed  a  full  appreciation  of  its  value  and 
importance,  and  an  earnest  desire  to  throw  the  whole  in- 
fluence of  the  government  in  the  scale  of  the  amelioration 
and  lifting  up  of  the  Indian  tribes. 

"There  were  a  few  features  in  his  character  which  espe- 
cially attracted  attention.  One  was  its  thorough  religious 
basis  and  the  earnest  desire  which  he  always  showed  to 
serve  God  by  laboring  for  his  fellow-men.  There  was 
nothing  of  haughtiness  or  self-conceit  about  him;  on  the 
contrary  he  was  always  ready  to  pay  full  respect  to  every 
individual  member  of  the  Prison  Congress,  and  it  was  ex- 
ceedingly difficult  to  induce  him  to  occupy  the  time  of  the 
Congress,  because  he  said  he  felt  that  there  were  many 
practical  men  and  women  present  whose  counsel  and  ad- 
vice were  much  more  important  than  his.  The  members 
of  the  Congress  did  not  unite  in  this  view,  and  were  always 
glad  to  hear   from  him." 

As  a  young  man,  making  the  grand  tour  of  the 
East,  he  had  felt  it  his  duty  to  call  on  President 
Tyler;  Abraham  Lincoln  he  met  before  election, 
once  at  Indianapolis  and  once  in  Cincinnati,  and 
afterwards  saw  him  at  Washington,  as  we  have 
noticed  before;  his  visit  to  Andrew  Johnson  has 
also  been  noted. 

In  connection  with  Indian  affairs  he  visited 
Garfield,  as  well  as  Grant  and  Hayes.  Benjamin 
Harrison  was  his  personal  acquaintance  and  Will- 
iam McKinley,  ''a  man  of  most  lovable  charac- 
ter," he  had  known  and  visited  in  his  home  several 
times. 


162 


VIII 

The  list  grows  long,  but  we  ought  not  to  omit 
his  long  service  in  state  Sabbath  School  work  nor 
his  part  in  the  beginning  of  the  Y.  M.  C.  A.  in 
Richmond. 

The  first  originated  in  his  interest  in  the  Rich- 
mond mission  school ;  he  was  a  delegate  to  the  first 
annual  State  Sunday  School  Convention  in  1865, 
and  in  the  same  year  he  was  appointed  president 
of  the  newly  organized  Wayne  County  Sunday 
School  Association.  In  1870  he  was  elected  presi- 
dent of  the  State  Association  in  their  meeting  at 
Evansville. 

Growing  out  of  the  county  association  was  the 
Y.  M.  C.  A.,  organized  at  Richmond  in  1869. 
Charles  F.  Cofiin  carried  the  presidency  of  this  for 
two  years  until  the  pressure  of  other  work  forced 
him  to  drop  it.  Rooms  were  engaged  at  the  corner 
of  Main  and  Marion  Streets  (the  latter  is  now 
Sixth  Street)  and  these  were  made  attractive  with 
furniture  and  reading  matter ;  the  first  report  states 
that  seven  daily,  twenty-six  weekly  and  seven 
monthly  papers — news,  political,  religious,  scien- 
tific, literary  and  agricultural — were  provided.  A 
secretary,  then  called  a  superintendent,  gave  much 
of  his  time  to  visitors  at  the  rooms,  and  prayer 
meetings  and  Bible  classes  were  held  both  in  the 
rooms   and   at   outside   points.      The    ''Home   for 

163 


Charles  F.  Coffin 

Friendless  Females"  mentioned  before,  was  organ- 
ized that  year  from  the  fees  of  the  women  who 
were  members  of  the  Association  and  by  the  efforts 
of  those  women. 

From  1862  to  1871,  Charles  F.  Coffin  served  as 
clerk  of  the  Yearly  Meeting  Central  Book  and 
Tract  Committee,  organized  thirty  years  before 
with  the  active  aid  and  direction  of  his  father.  A 
little  remembered  outgrowth  of  this  committee  is  a 
number  of  Quaker  catechisms  prepared  by  Elijah 
Coffin  and  others  to  use  much  as  we  use  the  Bible 
School  lesson  helps  now.  'The  Mother's  Cate- 
chism" is  one  of  these  pamphlets;  there  are  others 
covering  the  Old  Testament  and  the  four  gospels. 

Charles  Coffin  had  good  reason  to  say  in  look- 
ing back  over  this  time,  'Taking  all  of  these 
various  activities  in  Christian  work,  looking  after 
a  growing  family  of  sons,  and  caring  for  the  regu- 
lar routine  of  business,  I  was  an  exceedingly  busy 
man  during  that  portion  of  my  life." 

There  is  added  to  these  labors,  however,  an- 
other development  that  continued  long  after  the 
others  had  been  laid  aside ;  this  is  his  acknowledged 
ministry. 

"During  the  year  1866  I  was  acknowledged  as  a  Min- 
ister of  the  Gospel.  My  first  efforts  in  the  line  of  public 
ministry  were  exceedingly  simple,  commencing  with  prayer 
and  enlarging  to  short  communications  of  the  most  simple 
character. 

"It  has  never  been  possible  for  me  to  separate  the  call 

164 


His  Evangelical  Period 

of  the   Lord    from  the  exercise  and  use  of  the  ordinary- 
talents  and  abihties  with  which  He  hath  entrusted  me. 

"I  did  not  await  any  heedings  to  be  emptied  of  every 
thought,  as  I  once  considered  necessary,  but  read  my  Bible, 
stored  my  mind  with  its  truths  and  spoke  from  a  heart 
touched  with  the  love  of  God  and  the  feeling  of  a  duty  to 
my  fellow-men,  as  the  Spirit  gave  me  utterance ;  always 
asking  before  I  commenced  that  the  Lord  would  enlighten 
my  mind  and  give  me  ability  to  proclaim  such  message  as 
seemed  to  Him  right,  although  I  never  prepared  a  sermon 
in  the  sense  that  ministers  of  some  other  denominations  do." 

His  son,  Percival  Brooks  Coffin,  writes: 

''My  father  never  spoke  from  notes  or  written  manu- 
script. He  was  however,  continually  studying  his  Bible  and 
from  time  to  time  he  would  block  out  sermons  on  pieces  of 
note  paper,  which  would  often  lie  in  his  Bible  unused  for 
months.  Therefore  his  talks,  although  extemporary,  were 
the  result  of  both  thought  and  study. 

''He  had  a  soft,  rich  voice  of  good  carrying  power; 
his  gestures  were  few  and  simple  and  at  all  times  he  looked 
his  audience  straight  in  the  eye. 

"I  have  found  one  of  a  series  of  old  notes  which  I 
choose  to  call,  "Notes  on  the  Office  of  the  Holy  Spirit,"  and 
which  I  reproduce  here  in  order  to  give  some  idea  of  the 
mind  of  the  man.  Attached  to  these  notes  are  some  pages 
giving  various  definitions  of  the  Holy  Spirit  as  understood 
by  Friends,  which  may  also  serve  to  throw  some  light  on 
the  thought  of  the  Society  with  respect  to  this  doctrine  and 
its  relation  to  the  Holy  Scriptures,  and  indicate  some  pro- 
gressive phases  of  that  thought. 

"The  Holy  Spirit  and  the  Holy  Scriptures :  Read 
Romans  15th  and  4th: 

"For   whatsoever  things   were   written   aforetime   were 

165 


Charles  F.  Coffin 

written    for   our   learning,   that   we   through   patience   and 
comfort  of  the  Scriptures  might  have  hope. 

"The  Old  Testament  contains  39  books,  written  at  dif- 
ferent times,  hundreds  of  years  apart,  by  different  authors, 
all  inspired  of  God.  Some  are  historical,  some  legal,  some 
prophetic,  and  some  poetic.  They  give  evidence  that  the 
knowledge  of  God  was  of  slow  growth,  the  light  shining 
more  and  more  unto  the  perfect  day — the  fulness  of  the 
coming  of   Christ. 

*'The  law  of  Moses  is  the  foundation  of  all  law,  al- 
though there  are  some  things  repugnant  to  us  in  it :  'Moses, 
for  your  hardness  of  heart,  suffered  you  to  put  away  your 
wives,  etc.,   etc' 

Discuss  the  Psalms,  Proverbs  and  the  Prophets:  John 
5th  and  39th. 

"Ye    search   the    Scriptures   because   ye   think 
that  in  them  ye  have  eternal  life,  and  these  are 
they  that  bear  witness  of  me." 
Second  Timothy — 3rd,  15th,  and  16th: 

"And  that  from  a  child  thou  hast  known  the 
Holy  Scriptures,  which  are  able  to  make  thee  wise 
unto  salvation,  through  faith  which  is  in  Christ 
Jesus.'' 

"All  Scripture  is  given  by  inspiration  of  God 
and  is  profitable  for  instruction  in  righteousness, 
that  men  of  God  may  be  perfect,  thoroughly  fur- 
nished unto  all  good  works." 
Acts  17th  and  11th: 

"These  were  more  noble  than  those  in  Tessa- 
lonica  in  that  they  received  the  word  with  all 
readiness  of  mind  and  searched  the  Scriptures 
daily  whether  those  things  were  so ;  therefore 
many  of  them  believed." 

The  Old  Testament  Scriptures  were  formed  into  a 
canon  before  the  coming  of  Christ  and  were  preserved  in 

166 


His  Evangelical  Period 

the  archives  of  the  Temple,  read   in  the   Synagogues  and 
quoted  by  Christ. 

Here  read  Luke — 24th  and  25th: 

'Then  opened  he  their  understanding  that  they 
might  understand  the   Scriptures." 
The  attitude  of  Friends  toward  the  Scriptures  has  been 
different  from  that  of  any  other  Protestant  body : 

'*We  do  acknowledge  the  Scriptures  to  be  very 
Heavenly  and   Divine   Writings — and  the  use   of 
them  to  be  very  comfortable  and  necessary  to  the 
Church  of  Christ." 
The  Advices  of   1720  read: 

"Let  the  Holy  Scriptures  be  diligently  searched 
and  seriously  read  by  Friends  with  due  regard  to 
the  Holy  Spirit,  from  whence  they  come,  and  by 
which  they  are  truly  opened." 
The  Minutes  of  Indiana  Yearly  Meeting,  1861  read: 
*'We    would    earnestly    caution    our    members 
against    any    attempts    to    undermine    the    Holy 
Scriptures;   the   more  we   are   experimentally   ac- 
quainted with  the  mind  of  Christ,  the  more  shall 
we    be    taught    the    inestimable    value    of    these 
records,  of  which  He  is  the  central  theme." 
We  object  to  calling  them  the  principal  foundation  of 
all  truth  and  knowledge,  or  the  first  adequate  rule  of  faith 
and  manners. 

We  must  bring  these  writings  and  sayings  to  the  Word 
of  God;  I  mean  the  Eternal  Word,  and  if  they  agree  there- 
to, we  stand  there;  the  Spirit,  and  not  the  Word  is  the 
rule,  hence  we  object  to  calling  the  Scriptures  the  'Word 
of  God."  However,  we  at  all  times  have  recognized  the 
written  word  as  inspired  and  have  encouraged  all  Friends 
to  diligently  read  the  same. 

DWELL  NOT  WITH  THY  DOUBTS,  BUT  WITH 
THY  CONVICTIONS. 

167 


IX 

A  LIFE  SO  crowded  with  accomplishment  could 
hardly  have  been  possible  without  the  strictest 
ordering  of  his  time.  Percival  Brooks  Coffin  gives 
a  picture  of  that  busy  period  and  of  the  more  per- 
sonal attributes  of  his  father. 

"We  always  had  breakfast  at  seven  o'clock,  followed 
with  morning  devotions.  After  this  father  retired  to  the 
Hbrary  for  a  half  hour  Bible  study. 

*'He  was  always  punctual  and  regular  in  his  habits. 
After  the  Bible  study,  he  took  a  walk  around  the  grounds 
and  gave  his  orders  for  the  day.  He  usually  left  the 
house  for  his  banking  office  at  8:30  in  the  morning.  The 
bank  opened  at  nine  o'clock  and  closed  at  four  o'clock. 

"Dinner  was  served  at  1 :00  P.  M.  and  father  always 
walked  from  his  office  to  his  home  for  dinner.  At  4:00 
P.  M.  he  and  my  mother  drove  for  an  hour  along  the  coun- 
try roads  about  Richmond  or  to  visit  some  Friend  located 
near  Richmond,  but  not  within   walking  distance. 

"After  supper  in  the  evening  my  father  devoted  his 
time  first  to  his  numerous  duties  as  Clerk  or  officer  in 
church  committees,  Sunday  School  Conventions,  etc.,  and 
thereafter  until  half  past  nine  was  given  to  reading,  often 
aloud." 

"On  First  Day  morning,  we  would  breakfast  at  7:30; 
First  Day  School  was  at  9 :00  A.  M.  and  my  father  always 
taught  a  class  therein.  This  was  followed  by  Meeting  at 
10:30.  We  children  were  allowed  fifteen  minutes  to  run 
around  the  block  and  play  between  School  and  Meeting. 
We  were  always  expected  to  attend  Meeting,  and  until  I 
became  a  good-sized  boy,  I  was  seated  on  the  front  seat, 

169 


Charles  F.  Coffin 

where  my  father  and  mother,  both  in  the  gallery,  could 
look  down  upon  me. 

'The  seats  were  hard,  my  feet  did  not  touch  the  floor. 
Behind  me  sat  Jason  and  Elizabeth  Ham,  godly  people  and 
great  friends  of  my  parents.  The  Meetings  were  long 
and  I  often  became  restless.  Friend  Jason  Ham  sat  with 
his  chin  resting  upon  a  cane  with  a  curved  top.  He  would 
endure  my  restlessness  for  a  certain  period  of  time,  and 
then  reaching  over  his  cane  would  hook  it  back  in  my  jacket 
and  jerk  me  back  into  the  seat.  I  have  lain  awake  nights, 
inventing  ways  of  killing  that  man  when  I  grew  up,  but 
alas!  he  has  long  since  passed  to  his  reward. 

"Dinner  at  1 :00  P.  M.  was  followed  by  a  short  nap  of 
fifteen  minutes  which  father  always  took  sitting  upright 
in  a  rocking  chair.  Then  came  attendance  at  the  Mission 
School  of  which  he  was  Superintendent.  This  was  fol- 
lowed by  a  walk,  accompanied  by  his  boys,  often  down  the 
river  gorge.  Supper  was  at  6 :00  P.  M.  and  a  Meeting  for 
worship  followed  at  7:30. 

''Neatness,  order  and  system  followed  him  through- 
out his  life  and  during  the  last  ten  years  of  his  life,  when 
he  lived  in  our  home  he  maintained  his  same  regular  habits 
and  it  was  a  saying  that  we  could  regulate  our  watches  by 
father's  activities. 

"His  room,  his  bureau  and  his  clothes  were  immacu- 
lately neat  and  orderly. 

"He  worked  without  nervous  strain,  but  persistently 
and  steadily  and  was  continually  reading,  always  books  of 
some  value.  He  read  literature  of  the  Society  of  Friends, 
books  on  Biblical  research,  general  history,  archaeology, 
and  applied  sciences.  He  cared  but  little  for  novels  and 
essays.  Neither  was  he  interested  in  painting,  architec- 
ture or  sculpture.  In  speaking  of  his  travels  through 
Europe  he  never  commented  on  these  features,  although  I 
believe  he  did  not  miss  a  prison  house  or  insane  asylum. 

170 


His  Evangelical  Period 

He  was  fond  of  vocal  music  and  cared  but  little  for  instru- 
mental ;  one  of  his  relaxations  when  he  lived  in  Chicago 
was  his  membership  in  the  Apollo  Club. 

**He  did  not  take  recreation  as  we  understand  it  now, 
for  he  was  not  interested  in  either  games  or  sports.  In 
fact,  life  to  him  was  not  a  succession  of  pleasures  but 
rather  the  pathway  of  attainment.  He  had  a  quiet  sense 
of  humor  but  could  not  have  been  said  to  be  a  witty  or  bril- 
liant raconteur. 

"He  was  a  man  who  made  up  his  mind  slowly,  but 
when  once  fixed  it  was  difficult  to  turn  him.  He  had 
temper  but  held  it  in  good  control.  I  have  never  known 
him  to  speak  loudly  or  sharply;  he  would  manifest  more 
annoyance  from  interference  with  his  personal  effects  or 
papers  than  from  a  disagreement  in  regard  to  important 
matters.  In  his  dealings  with  other  members  of  the  fam- 
ily he  was  self-sacrificing,  kindly  and  gentle. 

"I  have  never  known  him  to  complain  either  from 
physical  suffering  or  because  of  the  loss  of  property.  I 
have  seen  him  hurt  and  discouraged  but  he  always  went 
forward  bravely  without  complaint  and  with  tireless  effort. 

*'He  was  broad  in  his  sympathies,  and  although  not  a 
man  who  carried  his  affection  on  his  sleeve,  in  fact  rather 
chary  of  physical  expression  of  affection,  he  made  his 
friends  feel  the  sincerity  and  depth  of  his  attachment  and 
he  was  always  willing  to  sacrifice  himself  and  his  interests 
for  those  friends  to  whom  he  felt  deeply  attached.  Gentle- 
ness, thought  fulness  and  self-sacrifice  were  his  predomi- 
nating traits   in  his   social   life. 

''Courage,  mental  activity  and  simplicity  were  the  pre- 
dominating traits  of  his  business  life. 

"Absolute  abandonment  to  the  will  of  his  Lord  and 
Master,  Jesus  Christ,  was  the  predominating  trait  in  his 
religious  life." 


171 


X 

The  effects  of  the  liberating  movement  of  1860 
began  in  the  course  of  twenty  years  to  be  well- 
defined  ;  they  have  not  ceased  yet,  but  they  can  now 
be  summarized  with  some  degree  of  justice  and 
accuracy. 

When  George  Fox  and  his  associates  first  dis- 
covered the  'Inner  Light"  which  they  identified 
with  the  Holy  Spirit  of  the  Christian's  Bible  they 
felt  they  had  uncovered  a  fundamental  truth  which 
had  but  to  be  presented  to  be  recognized.  They 
were  sure  that  all  the  world  and  the  churches  of 
the  world  would  of  necessity  recognize  and  obey 
the  voice  which  meant  so  much  to  them. 

The  second  generation  of  Quaker  leaders  awoke 
to  the  fact  that  their  constructive  doctrine  of  the 
''Principle"  or  ''Seed"  was  not  so  recognized  or 
followed;  but  convinced  by  their  own  experience, 
to  which  they  vehemently  appealed  as  final  author- 
ity, that  they  had  found  Truth,  they  all  uncon- 
sciously constructed  the  theory  that  they  had  a 
revelation  which  was  intended  for  a  select  few  and 
that  the  world  and  its  churches,  by  reason  of  the 
curse  of  sin  were  not  capable  of  perceiving  such 
Truth.  Hence  they  distinguish  themselves  as 
"God's  people"  and  outsiders  as  the  "World's 
people." 

From  this  theory  birthright  membership  came 
173 


Charles  F.  Coffin 

naturally,  for  as  the  children  of  Friends  were  of 
course  in  the  circle  of  God's  people,  and  had  the 
full  indwelling  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  as  well  as  the 
care  of  the  Fathers  and  Mothers  of  the  Society, 
they  were  entitled  to  this  membership. 

We  think  that  from  1775  to  1825  the  ideas  of 
Rousseau  and  the  English  Deists  began  to  affect 
the  members  of  the  Society,  as  schools  and  conse- 
quent intellectual  stimulation  increased.  We  are 
certain,  at  least,  that  the  conflict  between  Elias 
Hicks  and  the  Philadelphia  elders,  and  that  be- 
tween Gurney  and  Wilbur  caused  Friends  to  turn 
from  an  emphasis  on  moral  conduct  and  an  un- 
defined Inner  Light,  to  an  examination  of  doctrinal 
definitions.  Efforts  were  made  to  define  belief, 
both  in  "Advices''  and  "Disciplines"  and  a  number 
of  Friends  prepared  catechisms  and  established 
schools  for  Biblical  instruction. 

During  all  this  period  Friends  did  not  proselyte. 
They  did  not  want  members  unless  they  were  cer- 
tain such  members  would  maintain  the  ideals  and 
testimonies  which  Friends  prized  so  highly  and 
which  the  governing  leaders  had  lifted  to  such  a 
high  but  severe  standard.  To  become  a  Friend 
was  a  long  and  tedious  job  and  the  seeker  must  be 
persistent  and  patient.  The  idea  that  Friends  were 
a  select  people,  set  apart,  having  a  clearer  vision  of 
divine  law  than  others,  was  distinctly  predominant. 

However,  the  Society  failed  not  only  to  influ- 
ence the  world  but  failed  to  hold  its  own  children. 

174 


His  Evangelical  Period 

The  young  people's  movement  in  Indiana  begin- 
ning in  1860,  the  result  of  forces  acting  consciously 
and  unconsciously  for  thirty-five  years,  tended  to 
change  this  point  of  view.  It  is  fair  to  say  that  the 
Biblical  instruction  advocated  in  Indiana  Yearly 
Meeting  laid  the  foundation  that  made  this  work 
possible. 

The  young  Friends  began  to  proselyte ;  revival- 
istic  and  other  evangelical  methods  were  more  or 
less  followed.  The  old  doctrines  and  ideals  of 
Quakerism  became  less  compelling.  This  led  to  a 
large  number  of  applications  for  membership,  not 
from  people  who  had  become  convinced  through 
a  mystic  process,  but  from  people  who  had  ex- 
perienced ''conversion"  or  an  impulse  toward  a 
change  of  ideals.  These  people  believed  the  Bible, 
sincerely  desired  to  be  Christians  and  wanted  to 
associate  themselves  with  the  Society  of  Friends. 

Many  of  the  older  Friends  objected  to  admit- 
ting them  to  membership.  Mary  Whitall  Thomas 
said  to  Rhoda  M.  Coffin  that  any  seeker  should  be 
carefully  prepared  before  he  was  admitted  to  the 
Society  in  order  that  the  standards  of  God's  people 
might  not  be  lowered  or  their  testimonies  as  to 
conduct  and  discipline  might  not  be  destroyed,  for 
Friends  were  a  polishing  society.  The  radical 
Friends  claimed,  however,  that  any  society  which 
held  up  Christ  Jesus  as  its  model,  became  a  part  of 
His  church  and  that  any  person  who  accepted  him 
as  a  Savior  was  entitled  to  fellowship  with  Friends. 

175 


Charles  F.  Coffin 

Association  through  union  Sunday  Schools  and 
other  agencies,  with  the  members  of  other  reUgious 
denominations  served  to  break  down  the  old  ideals 
and  convinced  the  majority  of  Friends  in  Indiana 
that  they  were  not  entitled  to  a  natural  right  of 
superiority  over  their  neighbors,  but  were  in  fact 
merely  a  branch  of  Christ's  church  on  earth  gov- 
erned by  the  same  Bible,  the  same  evangelical  doc- 
trines and  the  same  principles  as  other  professing 
Christians.  This  idea,  under  pressure  of  youthful 
enthusiasm,  swept  the  Yearly  Meeting. 

Revivalistic  services  brought  in  large  numbers 
of  new  members;  ministers  traveled  from  one 
meeting  to  another,  without  guidance  or  church 
discipline  and  much  confusion  arose.  No  machin- 
ery was  provided  to  educate  the  convert  or  to  in- 
struct him;  no  definite  statement  of  faith  was 
agreeable  to  the  Yearly  Meeting  and  the  new  con- 
verts demanded  a  definite  statement  of  faith  and 
some  provision  for  aggressive  religious  work. 

Confusion  and  anarchy  increased  until  Friends 
felt  that  a  control  of  the  ministry,  or  rather,  some 
correlation  of  effort  was  necessary  and  a  number 
of  the  leading  Friends  became  convinced  that  this 
could  only  be  obtained  by  appointing  a  Commit- 
tee on  Ministry,  which  committee  was  first  ap- 
pointed by  Indiana  Yearly  Meeting  in  1880.  This 
committee  was  to  direct  the  efforts  of  evangelists, 
to  see  that  meetings  were  provided  with  regular 
ministers  and  that  new  members  were  cared  for 

176 


His  Evangelical  Period 

and  cherished.  This  development  was  carried  still 
further  when,  in  contradiction  of  an  ancient  testi- 
mony against  a  "hireling  ministry,"  Friends 
agreed  to  pay  a  pastor  for  devoting  his  time  to 
church  work,  or  rather,  as  one  Friend  put  it,  ''the 
church  needed  a  pastor  to  care  for  the  young  chil- 
dren in  Christ  and  such  a  pastor  might  be  a  woman 
and  need  not  be  a  minister."  One  or  two  meet- 
ings employed  men  for  this  purpose  and  found  the 
result  so  satisfactory  that  such  employment  became 
general  throughout  the  yearly  meeting. 

Many  of  the  new  converts  insisted  that  it  was 
necessary  for  their  religious  life  to  have  a  more  full 
and  extended  definition  of  the  belief  of  Friends 
and  that  the  old  idea  of  maintaining  as  a  sole  posi- 
tive doctrine  the  leading  of  the  Inner  Light,  to 
which  was  added  a  long  list  of  ''Don'ts"  did  not 
facilitate  religious  life  in  those  who  had  the  impulse 
to  do  good  deeds.  Because  of  this  feeling  Friends 
adopted  the  methods  taught  them  in  the  Union 
Sunday  Schools,  which  were  those  of  the  Method- 
ists and  their  young  people  organized  Christian 
Endeavor  societies.  A  partial  declaration  of  faith 
was  promulgated  at  Richmond  in  1887.  The 
activities  of  the  society  were  vastly  extended  and 
the  idea  of  a  select  society  sank  into  the  back- 
ground. 

With  the  weakening  of  this  idea  came  the  abol- 
ishment of  birthright  membership.  The  desire  of 
the  ministers  to  force  a  positive  confession  of  con- 

177 


Charles  F.  Coffin 

version  led  to  the  establishment  instead  of  two 
classes  of  members:  Children  of  Friends  were  en- 
rolled as  associate  members  until  the  age  of  dis- 
cretion and  they  were  received  as  active  members 
after  such  a  positive  declaration  had  been  made. 
Young  people  were  discouraged  if  they  attempted 
gradually  to  grow  into  the  society  and  every  effort 
was  made  to  compel  them  to  experience  a  definite 
dedication. 

Birthright  membership,  coming  unearned  and 
unsought,  implying  hereditary  right  to  be  called  a 
Christian,  had  not  been  prized.  The  Society,  com- 
prised of  such  members,  was  conservative,  occu- 
pied often  with  unimportant  details  and  lacking  in 
the  spiritual  power  that  had  characterized  the 
founders.  It  tended  to  become  a  hereditary  caste 
of  blood  kin. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  dark  feature  accom- 
panying the  abolition  of  birthright  membership  was 
that  loyalty  to  the  Society  became  obsolete,  and  the 
generations  growing  up  felt  that  if  the  Quakers 
were  only  a  branch  of  the  church  militant,  there 
was  no  need  to  distinguish  it  from  other  denomina- 
tions. Whenever  it  became  necessary  for  them  to 
move  from  a  Friends'  neighborhood,  they  did  not 
attempt  to  establish  a  Meeting  but  associated 
themselves  with  the  social  group  that  was  most 
congenial  to  them,  where  their  Quaker  virtues  as 
well  as  their  distinctly  Quakerly  faults  were  soon 
obliterated.      The   present   young   Friends    move- 

178 


His  Evangelical  Period 

ment  represents  a  counter  movement  toward  loy- 
alty to  that  which  was  best  in  the  old  Quakerism 
as  well  as  that  which  is  good  in  the  modern  social 
program. 

The  movement  of  1860  accentuated  for  the 
good  of  all  the  longstanding  practical  work  of 
Friends  among  the  Indians,  the  Negroes  and  for 
the  poor  and  unfortunate.  Such  social  work  car- 
ries its  own  balance  wheel  and  there  is  little  to  be 
noted  beyond  what  we  have  already  told  of  the 
sense  of  responsibility  Friends  felt  in  this  line. 

A  second  problem  of  the  Society  found  solution 
at  the  same  time  by  the  same  young  people;  this 
was  a  question  of  organization. 

The  original  principle  of  the  Inner  Light  main- 
tained that  all  men  might  be  inspired  of  the  Holy 
Spirit;  but  in  practice  it  appeared  that  all  men  did 
not  interpret  this  inspiration  alike.  Differences 
arose  between  those  who  claimed  inspiration  equal- 
ly but  whose  ideals  were  nevertheless  in  opposition. 

The  theory  of  the  Consentient  Conclusion  of 
the  Sanctified  Saints  in  Council  arose  to  meet  the 
problem  thus  posed.  The  business  meetings  or- 
ganized first  for  the  consideration  of  the  sufferings 
of  the  members,  then  for  the  orderly  keeping  of 
records  and  later  for  the  holding  of  property  were 
the  instruments  around  which  this  theory  de- 
veloped. Fox  announced  that  his  scheme  of  So- 
ciety government,  which  Penn  tried  to  build  into 
a  State,  had  been  revealed  to  him,  and  the  majority 

179 


Charles  F.  Coffin 

of  his  co-religionists  confirmed  this  from  their  own 
belief. 

But  these  meetings  became  too  large  to  handle 
efficiently  situations  as  they  developed  in  the 
growth  of  the  Society  and  the  members  consisted 
not  only  of  Sheep  or  Solid  Friends,  but  Lambs  or 
Tender  Friends,  as  well  as  sometimes  Goats  or 
Worldly  Minded  Friends.  Therefore  to  guard  the 
purity  of  the  Faith,  since  it  was  evident  that  all 
men  were  not  equally  responsive  to  the  light, 
Overseers  to  guard  the  morals.  Elders  to  direct 
the  Intellect  and  Ministers  to  deliver  inspirational 
exhortations  were  evolved  and  assumed  the  duties 
of  such  guardianship.  All  leadings  tending  to  so- 
cial activities  and  intellectual  explorations  were 
submitted  to  the  judgment  of  these  Solid  Friends. 

After  the  collapse  of  the  Pennsylvania  experi- 
ment, and  the  rise  of  the  Methodist  influence  in  re- 
ligion, these  meetings  were  busy  maintaining  the 
ancient  'Testimonies"  of  Friends;  and  though 
many  of  these  were  excellent  and  greatly  in  ad- 
vance of  the  times,  they  were  not  joined  to  any 
progressive  devlopment  of  thought  or  manner. 

A  leadership  of  man  over  man  was  not  recog- 
nized, but  it  did  in  fact  exist,  wielded  by  a  chain 
of  unthanked,  uncrowned  leaders.  This  Select 
Meeting  acted  as  if  it  were  the  direct  representa- 
tive of  the  Voice  of  the  Spirit  and  the  meeting  at 
large  was  allowed  only  to  check  up  for  minor  er- 
rors and  record  general  concurrence.     Worse,  the 

180 


His  Evangelical  Period 

Select  Meeting  was  self-perpetuating,  and  was 
thereby  doubly  conservative,  inclined  to  tradition 
and  the  keeping  up  of  unimportant  forms. 

After  much  opposition,  the  group  of  young  peo- 
ple among  whom  Charles  F.  and  Rhoda  M.  Coffin 
were  leaders,  succeeded  in  securing  a  modification 
of  the  discipline  of  Indiana  Yearly  Meeting,  which 
deprived  the  Select  Meeting  of  much  of  its  power 
and  made  it  possible  for  younger  members  outside 
the  charmed  circle  to  have  some  voice  in  the  man- 
agement of  the  affairs  of  the  Society. 

This  was  the  recognition  by  the  Society  of  its 
need  of  young  blood  and  new  thought,  as  fur- 
nished to  it  rather  against  its  desires,  by  these 
young  people ;  and  it  was  this  liberalization  of  the 
governing  bodies  that  made  it  possible  for  suc- 
ceeding generations  of  young  people  to  continue 
to  take  their  place  in  Church  councils. 


181 


HIS  MYSTICAL  PERIOD 


HIS  MYSTICAL  PERIOD 

I 

Charles  F.  Coffin  began  his  business  life  as  a 
clerk  in  the  State  Bank  of  Indiana,  which  he  en- 
tered in  1835,  and  from  that  time  until  1884  was 
connected  with  it  and  its  successors. 

When  he  consecrated  himself  to  religious  work 
in  1860  he  believed  that  he  was  called  upon  to  de- 
vote his  energies  to  the  work  of  his  church  and  to 
social  service.  This  was  the  reason  why  he  steadily 
refused  the  tenders  of  public  office  and  flattering 
business  opportunities  that  would  have  required 
his  removal  to  New  York  City  in  1866. 

In  the  year  1884  as  a  result  of  a  business  panic 
at  that  time,  he  suffered  the  entire  loss  of  his  small 
fortune  and  as  a  result  he  removed  to  Chicago  in 
that  year. 

His  business  collapse  truly  shook  his  beliefs. 
Before  he  was  sure  of  his  own  interpretation  of  the 
Bible;  he  was  insistent  in  pushing  his  own  ideas 
and  in  his  efforts  to  conform  the  church  to  them; 
and  he  worked  manfully  for  the  good  of  the 
church. 

He  loved  his  people,  and  they  idolized  him.  He 
was  pleased,  and  proud  and  happy  in  his  work. 

The  world  should  know  that  a  man  could  be  a 
devout  churchman,  a  true  philanthropist,  and  at 
the  same  time  a  successful  business  man. 

185 


Charles  F.  Coffin 

He  gave  each  year  to  charities  the  same  amount 
he  spent  on  household  expense.  He  beUeved  the 
Lord  had  called  him,  and  he  had  answered,  hence 
his  business  was  in  unison  with  the  rest  of  his  ac- 
tivities dedicated  to  God.  In  his  comments  on  the 
Bible,  he  quotes  text  upon  text  to  establish  this 
thesis. 

Believing  all  this,  it  was  terrible  to  find  oneself 
penniless,  removed  from  positions  of  responsibility, 
the  way  for  work  along  the  old  lines  being  ap- 
parently forever  blocked. 

Business  reverses  brought  with  them  a  spiritual 
crisis.  For  three  years  he  groped  for  new  light 
and  for  a  new  interpretation  of  his  experiences — 
Job-like,  he  sought  to  reconcile  the  coming  of 
calamities  to  the  faithful  with  his  concept  of  a  God 
of  Love.  He  found  a  haven  of  friendship  in  Chi- 
cago Monthly  Meeting,  but  he  did  not  receive  any 
inspiration  or  real  uplift  until  he  went  to  London 
and  the  way  was  opened  for  him  to  work  in  the 
scattered  country  Meetings  and  in  the  small  city 
meetings  within  the  limits  of  London  Yearly  Meet- 
ing of  Friends. 

He  and  his  wife  were  most  successful  in  this 
field.  His  most  intimate  friends  in  London  were 
Joseph  Bevan  Braithwaite  and  wnfe  and  Robert 
Pearsall  Smith  and  wife,  and  through  these  fami- 
lies came  to  him  his  final  and  greatest  religious  ex- 
perience, which  I  choose  to  call:  ''The  Peace  of 
Abandonment,"  an  experience  which  combined  and 

186 


His  Mystical  Period 

overshadowed  his  mystical  boyhood,  his  Churchly 
youth,  and  the  evangeHsm  of  his  active  years. 

He  learned  slowly  the  great  truths — that  spir- 
ituality consists  of  simple  fidelity  to  the  will  of  God, 
revealed  by  His  Spirit  from  day  to  day;  that  the 
indwelling  Spirit  was  not  a  prophetic  guide. 

That  preaching  and  philanthropy  were  but  in- 
cidents; that  the  real  power  of  a  man  is  in  the  at- 
mosphere that  he  creates.  That  imposing  your  will 
and  mentality  on  others,  is  not  the  highest  Chris- 
tianity; that  a  pure  heart  is  the  wise  man's  duty, 
but  results  lie  with  God.  That  commercial  pros- 
perity is  not  guaranteed  a  faithful  servant,  and  a 
man  to  be  a  successful  trader,  must  live  the  life 
of  a  trader.  That  one's  life  consists  of  a  series  of 
unimportant  actions  which  bring  you  peace,  only 
as  they  are  directed  to  God.  That  no  one  can  do 
more  for  his  brother  than  to  point  to  Jesus  Christ 
as  the  way,  the  truth  and  the  life,  for  through 
Him  only  has  one  a  true  image  of  the  Father ;  that 
each  one  must  himself  experience  for  himself ;  that 
what  one  gets  is  of  little  consequence — what  one 
gives  is  everything. 

This  revelation  grew  clearer  to  him  as  old  age 
approached,  and  he  happily  entered  it,  shedding 
comfort  and  radiance  about  him.  He  was  content, 
he  was  calm,  he  was  trustful,  he  was  forgiving,  he 
was  generous. 

Two  texts  sum  his  atmosphere: 

"The  peace  of  God  that  passeth  all  under- 
standing." 

187 


Charles  F.  Coffin 

"The  Everlasting  Arms  are  underneath." 

As  the  end  grew  near  his  soul  easily  functioned 

in  the  spiritual  plans,  while  the  body  was  daily 

breaking. 

As  a  final  message  he  said  to  his  friends: 

"In  looking  back  over  my  long  life,  it  has  been  re- 
vealed to  me  that  disappointments,  as  well  as  successes,  were 
part  of  the  Lord's  work,  and  it  is  our  duty  to  accept  dis- 
appointments and  to  continue  steadfast  knowing  that  all 
things  work  for  the  Glory  of  God.  I  believe  that  the  various 
movements  which  have  taken  place  in  the  Society,  although 
some  were  turbulent  and  have  caused  much  pain  to  many 
tender  Friends,  have  been  productive  of  good,  and  that  the 
Society  now  is  stronger  spiritually  and  intellectually  than 
it  has  ever  been,  and  that  it  has  gathered  from  each  one  of 
its  upheavals  an  enlarged  power  for  good.  I  believe  that 
the  young  men  now  in  charge  of  the  work  of  the  church 
are  God-fearing  men,  men  of  broad  vision.  I  believe  that 
the  church  will  do  its  work  in  a  broader  field,  with  greater 
unity,  and  with  more  spiritual  power  than  has  been  mani- 
fested, at  any  time  in  the  past." 

"The  soul's  dark  cottage,  battered  and  decayed, 
Lets  in  new  light  through  chinks  that  time  has  made ; 
Avenged  by  weakness,  wiser  men  become, 
Leaving  the  old,  both  worlds  at  once  they  view, 
That  stand  upon  the  threshold  of  the  new." 


188 


II 

It  is  the  despair  of  those  who  describe  this  last 
period  of  Charles  F.  Coffin's  life  that  words  are  of 
little  use  to  express  its  spiritual  quality,  which  had 
almost  no  accompanying  dramatic  action.  The 
routine  of  his  later  years  is  set  down  in  notes  from 
his  journal,   made   September  23,    1914. 

It  has  been  some  time  since  I  have  written  anything 
for  my  Journal.  Two  causes  have  prevented :  one,  the  lack 
of  impulse,  and  another,  the  fact  that  there  was  nothing 
striking  to  record. 

I  have  been,  for  several  years,  past,  leading  a  quiet  life, 
with  but  little  striking  variety  in  it.  I  have  not  been 
strong  enough  for  public  work  of  the  kind  in  which  I  have 
spent  so  many  years  of  my  life,  and  with  the  Gospel  Min- 
istry have  only  spoken  briefly,  as  I  did  not  feel  able  to  go 
into  any  extended  discourse. 

My  general  health  has  been  good,  but  I  feel  most  deeply 
my  deafness,  which  prevents  my  participating  in  a  busi- 
ness meeting  or  for  enjoying,  as  I  should  do,  company  in 
the  evening;  but  I  have  had  so  many  things  to  be  thankful 
for  that  I  do  not  complain  of  this  privation.  I  am  half 
through  by  ninety-second  year  and  am  able  to  go  almost 
every  day  to  my  son's  office,  where  I  have  a  desk  at  which 
I  have  sat  for  fifty  or  sixty  years,  and  do  more  or  less 
correspondence  and  am  able  to  see  what  is  going  on  in  a 
business  way.     It  makes  variety  in  my  life,  and  I  enjoy  it. 

I  have  been  favored  with  a  feeling  of  the  living  Presence 
of  my  dear  Redeemer  constantly,  and  at  times  have  had 
some  striking  illustrations  of  spiritual  life.  I  am  not 
anxious  to  leave  the  world,  but  believe  I  am  ready  to  meet 

189 


Charles  F.  Coffin 

the  call  of  my  Heavenly  Father  whenever  it  shall  come.  I 
am  very  thankful  for  life  and  all  the  rich  privileges  which 
I  have  enjoyed.  I  have  looked  upon  it  as  a  boon  and  have 
thoroughly  enjoyed  it.  I  am  especially  thankful  for  the 
preservation  of  my  intellectual  powers,  although  I  am  con- 
scious that  I  would  not  be  equal  to  some  things  which  I 
have  heretofore  done.  I  enjoy  very  much  the  companion- 
ship of  my  friends,  and  am  especially  thankful  for  the  good- 
will and  friendship  of  young  persons,  many  of  whom  have 
shown  an  interest  and  affection   for  me. 

It  has  been  my  privilege  of  recent  years  to  realize  an 
increase  in  my  spiritual  life  and  in  the  supporting  power 
of  my  dear  Redeemer,  and  there  is  a  constant  feeling  in 
my  heart  of  the  peace  of  God  which  "passeth  all  under- 
standing." 

I  partake  largely  of  the  kindness  of  my  children  and 
grandchildren,  with  whom  it  is  a  special  privilege  to  mingle. 
I  spend  a  few  weeks  once  or  twice  a  year  in  the  East  with 
the  children  residing  there,  but  most  of  my  time  am  at 
home  in  Chicago. 

I  do  not  know  how  much  longer  I  may  have  to  live 
in  this  world,  nor  do  I  feel  anxious  on  that  subject;  but  I 
am  fully  in  the  hands  of  my  Heavenly  Father  and  willing 
to  resign  to  Him  the  life  which  He  has  given  me  at  any 
time  that  He  may  call  for  it. 

Two  years  later,  August,  1916,  he  met  his  ex- 
pected release,  bearing  his  illness  and  the  summer 
heat  with  gentle  patience. 

Two  funeral  services  were  held:  the  first  at  the 
Chicago  Meeting-house,  the  other  at  the  South 
Eighth  Street  Meeting-house  in  Richmond,  In- 
diana, where,  with  all  the  scenes  of  his  former  ac- 
tivities  about   him,    men's   thoughts   turned   back 

190 


His  Mystical  Period 

along  the  century  of  his  life,  and  found  perspective 
to  judge  his  place  in  Quaker  history.  The  follow- 
ing estimate  of  his  influence  on  his  times  was  given 
at  that  time  by  Francis  C.  Anscombe: 

"Other  men  labored  and  ye  are  entered  into  their  labor." 
(John  4-38). 

These  words  of  Jesus  seem  singularly  appropriate  upon 
this  occasion.  I  did  not  have  the  pleasure  of  knowing 
Charles  F.  Coffin  personally.  I  do  not  intend  to  repeat 
anything  I  may  have  heard  about  him.  I  venture  to  speak 
of  him  from  an  indirect  source.  I  have  endeavored  to  fit 
Charles  F.  Coffin  into  what  little  I  know  of  Quaker  History 
in  America.  It  seems  to  me  he  occupied  a  strategic  po- 
sition. It  cannot  be  amiss  to  say  that  he  exercised  marked 
influence  upon  Indiana  Yearly  Meeting  at  a  time  when  that 
body  stood  at  the  parting  of  the  ways.  It  seems  to  me 
that  this  Yearly  Meeting  is  today  a  progressive  evangelical 
body,  largely  in  consequence  of  the  attitude  and  influence 
of  Charles  F.  Coffin. 

The  Society  of  Friends  in  America  has  had  a  very  ex- 
traordinary history.  The  beginning  was  marked  by 
dramatic  and  tragic  events  in  New  England ;  William  Penn 
and  his  Holy  Experiment  in  Pennsylvania  made  Quakerism 
a  national  force.  Then  followed  the  long  period  of  con- 
servative quietism.  During  these  decades  the  Friends  were 
mainly  agriculturists.  They  read  but  little;  the  Bible  was 
seldom  used  at  home  and  was  tabooed  at  most  meetings  for 
worship.  The  preaching  was  mainly  exhortatory.  The 
energies  of  the  Society  seem  to  have  been  largely  consumed 
in  enforcing  discipline  by  disownment  of  members  for 
trivial  delinquencies. 

Then  came  the  Hicksite  controversy.  Elias  Hicks  was 
a  great  man,  yet  he  was  an  extremist.  He  appears  to  have 
had  no  adequate  appreciation  of  the  historic  development 

191 


Charles  F.  Coffin 

of  Christianity.  He  was  a  mystic;  and,  therefore,  an  in- 
dividuaHst.  Lack  of  patience  and  sympathy  caused  both 
Hicks  and  his  opponents  to  take  extreme  points  of  view. 
The  resulting  disruption  did  grave  damage  to  the  Orthodox 
body;  it  robbed  them  of  many  brainy  men,  whose  guiding 
hands  would  have  been  of  invaluable  service. 

The  visits  of  Joseph  John  Gurney  resulted  in  great  good. 
He  established  Bible  Schools  and  brought  Friends  back  to 
a  knowledge  of  the  Scriptures.  Yet  Gurney  was  a  tradi- 
tionalist, and  it  is  not  surprising  that  many  of  the  simple 
American  Quakers  were  soon  interpreting  Scripture  in  an 
unwarrantably  literal  manner. 

That  John  Wilbur  threw  himself  across  the  track  of  J. 
J.  Gurney  is  not  at  all  surprising.  Gurney  was  an  English 
aristocrat  and  would  not  brook  opposition.  The  result  of 
the  unhappy  controversy  was,  as  we  all  know  and  deplore, 
that  the  Orthodox  body  was  torn  into  fragments.  Sep- 
arations occurred  in  practically  every  Yearly  Meeting. 

I  speak  of  these  things  because  Charles  F.  Coffin,  won- 
derful as  it  seems  to  us  today,  was  actually  born  before  the 
Hicksite  Separations  of  1827-1828.  He  was  old  enough 
at  the  time  to  have  heard  Friends  discuss  the  matter,  and 
doubtless  he  remembered  it.  Charles  Coffin  lived  through 
the  whole  of  the  critical  period  of  Quaker  history.  He 
certainly  was  a  link  with  the  past.  He  was  an  active  par- 
ticipator in  Quaker  affairs  in  the  stormy  days  of  the  middle 
period  of  last  century,  and  was  Clerk  of  Indiana  Yearly 
Meeting  for  twenty-seven  years. 

Owing  to  the  strange  distrust  of  human  reason  held 
by  the  old  Friends,  they  were  not  able  to  meet  the  renais- 
ance  of  last  century.  There  were  few  who  could  debate 
with  Hicks,  and  none  was  the  equal  of  Gurney.  These  two 
men  were,  of  course,  the  very  antitheses  of  each  other, 
Hicks  being  a  mystic  and  Gurney  a  literalist. 

Thus    the    Society,    rent    and   torn,   heated   with   anti- 

192 


His  Mystical  Period 

slavery  and  doctrinal  passion,  scarce  knowing  what  it  stood 
for,  and  none  knowing  what  its  future  should  be,  met  the 
Revival  of  the  Fifties  and  Sixties.  This  movement  was 
not  a  mere  Quaker  Revival;  it  was  one  of  those  strange, 
psychological  upheavals,  which  occasionally  sweep  across 
the  continent.     It  affected  nearly  every  religious  body. 

The  revival  gave  Charles  F.  Coffin  his  opportunity.  It 
tested  his  genius.  When  the  whirlwind  struck  Richmond, 
he  stood  firm.  He  saw  the  trend  of  events,  and,  phophet- 
like,  saw  the  way  the  Friends  should  move  if  they  were  to 
survive  as  a  religious  body.  In  many  places  the  Friends 
resisted  the  Revival,  and  as  a  consequence  settled  down  into 
conservative  "deadism."  In  other  places  Friends  were 
swept  off  their  feet  by  the  movement.  All  sorts  of  ex- 
cesses resulted.  In  a  neighboring  state  astonishing  and  dis- 
graceful proceedings  occurred. 

As  I  look  over  the  field  of  Quaker  history,  I  believe  I 
see  where  Charles  F.  Coffin  belongs.  By  this  indirect,  yet 
perfectly  justifiable  method,  I  arrive  at  the  conclusion  that 
it  was  largely  due  to  the  sagacity,  far-sightedness,  level- 
headedness and  statesmanlike  abilities  of  Charles  F.  Coffin 
(and  a  few  others)  that  Indiana  Yearly  Meeting  has 
avoided  conservatism  on  the  one  hand  and  ranterism  on 
the  other. 

This  is  his  unique  contribution  to  Quakerism.  He 
helped  to  make  Indiana  Yearly  Meeting  a  sane,  progressive, 
evangelical  body.  He  labored,  and  we  have  entered  into 
his  labors;  it  is,  therefore,  fitting  that  we  thus  meet  to 
honor  his  merhory. 


193 


Ill 

But,  back  in  Chicago,  in  the  httle  meeting- 
house that  had  known  him  for  the  greater  part  of 
thirty  years,  the  farewell  had  been  more  personal, 
and  on  the  note  of  that  we  shall  close.  So  friendly 
and  so  intimate  had  been  that  last  afternoon,  that 
a  stranger  coming  in  caught  the  atmosphere. 

Helen  Votal  McKay  wrote : 

"I  attended  the  funeral  of  Charles  Coffin  and  wish  I 
had  words  to  tell  of  my  impressions.  The  Quaker  church 
is  a  very  old  two-story  building  with  the  meeting  room 
upstairs.  There  are  ten  rows  of  benches  in  the  center 
section  and  seven  on  each  side,  with  a  long  bench  across 
the  platform  in  front  for  the  older  people.  The  entire 
west  side  of  the  room  is  a  yellow  glass  window.  The  church 
is  on  a  busy  street,  but  the  harsh  sounds  that  came  into 
the  solemn  quiet  of  the  room  as  we  waited  for  the  funeral 
party  were  strangely  far  away.  The  silence  was  scarcely 
broken  as  !he  funeral  party  entered. 

"I  cannot  describe  the  service  or  the  atmosphere  of  that 
little  room.  My  heart  had  that  intangible  swollen  feeling 
and  my  throat  ached  as  I  sat  through  that  thanksgiving 
meeting,  for  such  it  was.  There  was  nothing  to  regret;  he 
had  lived  long  and  they  said  well.  They  called  him  their 
father,  lovingly  spoke  of  him  as  one  who  had  been  their 
counsellor  and  guide.  A  gray-haired  man  who  sat  beside 
him  at  the  head  of  the  meeting  for  thirty- four  years  paid 
him  a  high  tribute.  He  said  that  during  all  those  years  they 
had  not  once  made  an  agreement  as  to  which  should  preach 
the  sermon.  Sometimes  one  and  sometimes  the  other  re- 
ceived the  message.     There  had  been  times  when  neither 

195 


Charles  F.  Coffin 

felt  called  to  speak,  so  they  held  their  peace  and  the  whole 
meeting  was  silent  unless  some  one  else  was  moved  by  the 
Spirit. 

''Here,  then,  was  a  quiet  place  where  the  moving  of  the 
Spirit  had  been  obeyed  in  this  city  of  hurry  and  confusion. 
The  little  reed  organ  droned  out  his  favorite  hymn,  "When 
the  dear  Saviour  shall  bid  me  come  in,  I'll  enter  the  open 
door."  There  was  a  long  period  of  impressive  silence  only 
broken  by  the  hymn,  ''Abide  With  Me,"  sung  by  a  man's 
voice  accompanied  by  the  organ.  The  sun  was  low  in  the 
west  and  the  mellow  light  which  poured  into  the  room 
seemed  softest  around  the  casket  as  it  was  opened  and  we 
walked  past.  I  cannot  describe  my  feelings  as  I  gazed  on 
his  face  for  the  first  and  the  last  time. 

"Such  gentleness  and  refinement!  I  have  never  seen  an- 
other face  like  his.  He  was  surely  one  of  the  elect.  I  could 
realize  why  they  had  given  thanks  for  him  and  why  they  said 
he  was  not  dead.  I  cannot  find  words  to  express  the  eifect 
it  had  on  me.  It  was  like  a  beautiful  picture  from  first  to 
last.  It  was  not  sad  any  more  than  some  wonderful  scene 
which  brings  tears  to  the  eyes,  or  music  which  brings  a 
lump  in  the  throat.  It  left  the  impression  of  something 
great  and   beautiful   and  unspeakable." 

Herman  Newman,  who  spoke  that  afternoon, 
had  known  him  only  through  the  last  four  years 
of  his  life.     He  said: 

I  feel  called  this  afternoon  to  a  peculiar  service.  That 
service  is  to  speak  for  those  whom  I  do  not  know,  for  that 
large  company  of  men  and  women  to  whom  I  owe  a  debt 
that  I  shall  never  be  able  to  pay ;  to  speak,  in  a  measure,  at 
least,  for  the  comrades  of  Charles  F.  Coffin. 

One  of  the  most  vivid  recollections  I  have  of  an  oc- 
casion such  as  this,  is  the  memory  of  an  occurrence  a  few 
years  ago,  at  Haver  ford,  when  John  Wilhelm  Roundtree 

196 


His  Mystical  Period 

was  snatched  away  from  us  without  warning.  He  had 
left  his  home,  his  friends  and  dear  ones  in  England,  and 
was  coming  to  America  where  he  had  been  on  sundry  oc- 
casions visiting  an  eye  specialist  and  laboring  for  the  com- 
ing of  the  Kingdom.  Very  unexpectedly  he  died  at  sea. 
A  number  of  us,  men  and  women  who  knew  him,  had 
worked  with  him,  and  had  come  to  love  him,  gathered  there 
in  the  Haverford  meeting  house  for  worship.  I  can  re- 
member distinctly  how  men  like  George  Barton,  and  others 
spoke.  They  were  his  comrades.  They  were  men  of  about 
his  own  age  who  had  been  laboring  with  him,  thinking  his 
thoughts  with  him,  and  fighting  his  battles  with  him.  They 
were  his  comrades,  and  they  laid  him  away. 

But  we  this  afternoon  are  not  the  comrades  of  Charles 
F.  Coffin.  He  was  born  in  the  old  North  State,  in  the 
Fourth  month,  third  day,  1823;  and  when  a  year  old 
moved  with  his  family  to  Indiana.  There  he  grew  to  man- 
hood, and  there  he  spent  the  most  active  and  virile  years 
of  his  life,  from  1824  to  1884,  sixty  years.  In  the  history 
of  our  country,  from  Madison  to  Grover  Cleveland.  It 
is  during  those  years,  the  active  years  of  his  life,  that  we 
shall  find  his  comrades,  among  the  men  and  women  who 
wrought  with  him. 

That  time  spans  the  great  anti-slavery  agitation,  the 
Civil  War,  and  the  Reconstruction  period.  That  time 
saw  Quakerism  emerge  from  its  Middle  Ages  and  pass 
through  the  great  revival;  and  it  was  during  those  years, 
with  their  trials,  their  struggles,  and  their  problems,  that 
Charles  F.  Coffin  did  his  best  work.  It  is  for  the  men 
and  women  with  whom  you  and  I  are  not  acquainted,  who 
have  passed  on  before  him,  that  you  and  I,  somehow,  are 
called  to  speak  this  afternoon. 

Those  of  whom  I  speak  were  his  comrades,  but  to  us 
Charles  F.  Coffin  was  a  father.  He  came  to  us  bufifeted 
with  the  storms  of  life,   full  of  experiences,  calm,  serene, 

197 


Charles  F.  Coffin 

full  of  faith, — a  father.  Who  of  us  has  gone  to  him  in 
these  latter  years,  and  has  not  found  in  him  quick  and 
ready  sympathy!  Scarcely  a  line  of  thought  were  there 
to  which  he  did  not  bring  some  contribution,  something 
out  of  those  rich  years  that  I  have  been  speaking  about, 
something  out  of  those  years  of  struggle  with  Church 
problems,  when  after  the  death  of  his  father  in  1861,  he 
sat  at  the  head  of  Indiana  Yearly  Meeting.  . 

He  was  active  in  many  lines  of  Church  work.  He 
was  with  the  Friends  who  builded  Earlham  College.  He 
was  part  of  the  group  in  which  the  great  revival  move- 
ment started.  In  his  parlor  was  held  the  prayer  meeting 
where  there  was  manifested  such  a  wonderful  outpouring 
of  the  Spirit  at  Indiana  Yearly  Meeting.  It  was  in  his 
parlor  that  the  Friends  met  for  six  years,  forming  the 
nucleus  out  of  which  came  the  South  Eighth  Street  Meet- 
ing in  Richmond,  Indiana. 

He  had  a  wide  experience  in  his  business  life,  and  a 
deep  experience  in  his  religious  Hfe.  He  had  felt,  and 
felt  richly,  the  movement  that  had  brought  life  to  the  So- 
ciety. Then  he  came  to  us,  after  those  years  were  passed, 
and  lived  with  us  a  whole  generation.  Thirty-two  years 
was  he  spared  to  live  with  the  Chicago  Meeting.  We  re- 
ceived the  benefit  of  his  life.  We  were  his  children. 
While  he  was  spared  for  more  than  ninety  years,  through 
them  all  he  was  active  and  alert.  Even  to  the  last  he  was 
himself.  Filled  with  joy,  rich  in  sympathy,  his  life  to  us 
was  a  benediction.  To  me,  as  I  have  sat  with  him  during 
the  last  three  years  and  a  half  on  this  platform,  because 
Charles  F.  Coffin  sat  here  it  has  seemed  just  a  little  easier 
to  get  in  touch  with  God. 

Although  he  was  spared  for  more  than  ninety  years, 
he  never  seemed  to  become  weary  of  life.  He  had  too 
many  interests.  He  was  interested  in  prison  reform  and 
in  work  for  outcast  men  of  all  classes.     In  the  line  of  my 

198 


His  Mystical  Period 

work  here  in  Chicago,  I  found  in  him  one  who  could  un- 
derstand, one  who  could  help,  one  who  could  sympathize. 
He  was  just  as  alive  to  all  the  problems  that  I  am  dealing 
with  as  though  he  were  actively  working  with  me.  No, 
Charles  F.  Coffin  had  too  many  interests  to  be  tired  of 
life.  Life  for  him  was  a  constant  victory,  and  he  came 
to  the  end,  not  weary,  but  ready  to  go.  His  words  were 
the  words  of  his  song, — 

''But  when  the  dear  Saviour  shall  bid  me  come  in, 
I  will  enter  the  open  door." 

Through  all  the  latter  period  of  his  Hfe,  Will- 
iam Henry  Matchett  of  Chicago,  Illinois,  had  been 
his  trusted  friend,  and  with  the  simplicity  and 
deep  understanding  that  had  always  held  between 
the  two  men,  William  Henry  Matchett  bade  fare- 
well to  him. 

It  is  hardly  necessary  for  me  to  add  more  to  what  has 
been  said,  and  yet  I  feel  that  it  would  be  in  keeping  with 
the  mind  of  our  departed  brother  for  me  to  say  just  a  few 
words,  especially  as  in  his  recent  sickness  he  called  me 
to  his  bedside,  and  gave  me  a  message  in  that  tender,  sym- 
pathetic Christian  way  with  which  those  of  us  who  were 
acquainted  with  him  are  familiar.  I  have  sat  with  him 
here  in  this  Meeting,  on  this  platform,  ever  since  he  came 
to  Chicago,  thirty-two  years  ago.  In  that  fi^eedom  of 
spirit  which  is  characteristic  of  our  Church,  as  well  as 
others,  I  hope,  we  took  our  seats  together,  and  we  waited 
upon  God  together.  I  can  truly  say  that  in  those  thirty- 
two  years  we  never  had  any  agreement  or  thought  as  to 
who  was  to  preach.  Sometimes  the  message  would  come 
from  Charles  Coffin;  sometimes  from  his  wife;  sometimes 
from  myself;  and  sometimes  from  others.  But  there  was 
always   that   beautiful,   sweet   communion   and   intercourse 

199 


Charles  F.  Coffin 

with  God  and  with  one  another,  that  should  be  character- 
istic of  every  kind  of  Christian  gathering.  "Where  the 
Spirit  of  the  Lord  is,  there  is  liberty ;"  there  is  not  confu- 
sion, but  there  is  that  sweetness,  gentleness  and  fairness 
that  come  from  the  inbreathing  of  the  Spirit  in  unity  and 
fellowship. 

In  the  recent  message  which  he  gave  to  me,  he  said, 
"William  Henry,  I  thought  I  had  a  vision,  but  it  was  so 
clear  and  distinct  that  it  seemed  to  be  more  than  a  vision, 
even.  My  life  came  up  before  me,  and  I  viewed  it  in  the 
past  and  in  the  present,  and  there  was  nothing  but  peace 
and  satisfaction  in  it,  especially  in  my  Christian  work, 
and  in  our  communion,  fellowship  and  labor  together.  I 
want  thee  to  be  encouraged.  There  are  discouragements 
that  will  come  to  us  all,  as  they  have  come  to  me;  but  I 
realize  now  that  the  heavenly  Father  is  well  pleased  with 
work  and  service."  So  I  bring  this  message  to  you,  who 
have  sat  in  heavenly  places  in  Christ  Jesus  with  him  in 
this  Meeting.  There  are  many  here  who  knew  him  in  a 
different  relationship,  but  I  speak  for  the  boys  and  girls 
in  the  Sabbath  School,  for  the  young  men  and  women  in 
the  congregation,  and  for  us  who  are  older,  and  who  have 
to  take  up  the  burden  that  he  has  laid  down.  I  speak  to 
you,  and  for  you,  that  we  may  feel  this  afternoon  that  our 
labor  is  not  in  vain  in  the  Lord.  Discouragements  may 
come,  but  God  can  give  us  encouragement,  help,  strength, 
and  victory  in  the  name  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 

We  do  not  say  farewell  to  him.  We  feel  that  only  a 
veil,  a  shadow,  is  between  us  and  him.  Any  moment  it 
may  be  drawn  aside,  and  we  may  enter  into  that  fulness 
of  life,  joy  and  satisfaction  that  we  realize  this  afternoon 
is  his  portion.  In  a  more  recent  conversation  with  me  he 
said,  'T  have  not  speculated  much  on  what  the  future  may 
be.  We  do  not  know  very  much  in  regard  to  heaven, 
that  has  not  been  revealed  to  us ;  but  I  feel  this,  that  I  shall 

200 


His  Mystical  Period 

be  with  God,  and  with  those  who  have  gone  before.  It  has 
been  so  good  to  be  here  that  I  know  goodness  awaits  me 
there." 

And  so  we  feel  this  afternoon  that  the  words  of  the 
prophecy  have  well-nigh  come  true,  "Unto  you  that  fear 
my  name  shall  the  Sun  of  righteousness  arise  with  healing 
in  his  wings."  As  we  sit  here  in  the  rays  of  the  declining 
sun  of  eventide,  we  are  reminded  of  how,  throughout  all 
his  life,  the  Sun  of  righteousness  shone  in  splendor  upon 
him:  and  as  his  life  ebbed  away,  and  the  frame  containing 
the  spirit  grew  weaker  and  weaker,  his  depth  of  faith  and 
his  hope  of  a  life  yonder  brightened  his  last  moments,  even 
as  yonder  glorious  sun  is  brightening  these  last  solemn 
moments  for  us. 


201 


SUPPLEMENT 


At  a  meeting  held  at  the  resident  of  Chas.  F.  Coffin 

Forty-seven  friends  met  at  the  home  of  C.  F, 
and  R.  M.  Coffin,  on  Sixth  day  evening,  12th 
Month  24th,  1858,  and  organized  themselves  into 
a  reading  circle  adopting  a  Constitution  and  By- 
Laws. 

The  original  of  this  Constitution  and  By-Laws 
with  signatures  attached  is  in  the  possession  of 
Benjamin  Johnson  at  Richmond,  Indiana. 

A  fair  idea  of  the  work  that  this  circle  did  dur- 
ing their  first  season  may  be  obtained  from  the  re- 
port made  Fourth  Month  22nd,  1859,  which  reads 
as  follows: 

At  a  meeting  held  at  the  residence  of  Chas.  F.  Coffin 
on  Sixth  day  evening,  24th  of  12th  mo.  1858,  by  a  num- 
ber of  Friends  of  Richmond  and  vicinity  for  the  purpose 
of  organizing  a  Reading  Circle,  it  was  determined  to  make 
the  experiment;  and  the  following  persons  propose  to  at- 
tend as  members,  viz: — 


Elijah  Coffin 
Naomi  Coffin 
Benj.  Fulghum 
Rhoda  Fulghum 
Albert  Fulghum 
Zacchseus  Test 
Isaiah  Branson 
Sarah  G.  Branson 
Hiram  Hadley 
Hannah  Hadley 
Mary  Sanders 


Paul  Barnard 
Martha  Barnard 
Huldah  C.  Estes 
Mary  Starr 
Clayton  Hunt 
Elizabeth  Hunt 
Owen  Edgerton 
Lydia  Greer 
Joseph  Thomas 
Chas.  F.  Coffin 
Rhoda  M.  Coffin 

205 


Rebecca  Johnson 
Eliza  B.  Fulghum 
William  Fulghum 
J.  Brooks  Johnson 
Jas.  W.  Dickinson 
Sallie  Williams 
John  Nicholson 
Edward  B.  Rambo 
Letitia  Smith 
Benj'm  Johnson 
Rebecca  Wright 


Mary  F.  Pyle  Caroline  Dennis  Mary  Townsend 

Priscilla  White  Linai  Townsend  Lydia  Wilson 

Lizzy  Bond  Elizabeth  Johnson  Charles  Dennis 

Eliz.  Ann  Test  Mary  Johnson  Sam'l   Bellis 

Mary  Bellis  Thaddeus  Wright 

An  Executive  Committee  consisting  of  Chas.  F.  Coffin, 
Thad.  Wright,  John  Nicholson,  Paul  Barnard,  Huldah  C. 
Estes,  Mary  Johnson,  Eliza.  B.  Fulghum  and  Rhoda  M. 
Coffin,  were  appointed,  who  are  expected  to  furnish  places 
of  Meeting  and  to  appoint  readers  at  each  Meeting  for  the 
following  one. 

It  was  agreed  upon  that  for  the  present  the  Meetings 
will  be  held  every  Sixth  day  Evening  at  the  residence  of 
Chas.  F.  Coffin,  or  some  other  place  to  be  designated  by 
the  Executive  Committee  and  the  exercises  to  commence 
at  7  o'clock  precisely,  one  hour  will  be  occupied  in  read- 
ing from  the  work  agreed  upon,  after  which  a  Chapter  of 
Scriptures  will  be  read  which  will  close  the  exercises  of 
the  evening. 

Sixth  day  evening — 4th  Month  22nd,  1859.— This 
Association  has  met  regularly  once  a  week  generally  on 
sixth  day  evening,  in  each  week  since  its  organization  on 
the  24th  of  the  12th  month  last ;  the  meetings  have  mostly 
been  held  at  the  house  of  Charles  F.  Coffin,  but  one  has 
been  held  at  Paul  Barnard's,  one  at  Matthew  Barkers,  one 
at  Achilles  Williams'  and  three  at  Clayton  Hunts'.  We 
have  read  through  the  Memoirs  of  Hannach  Chapman 
Backhouse ;  part  of  the  Memoirs  of  Priscilla  Gurney,  some 
essays  from  the  Journal  of  Margaret  Woods,  and  four  lec- 
tures of  Joseph  John  Gurney,  on  the  evidences  of  Chris- 
tianity and  each  sitting  has  been  closed  by  reading  a  por- 
tion of  Holy  Scriptures. 

Our  meetings  have  been  very  quiet  and  orderly,  and 
we  have  been  interested,  instructed  and  edified  by  the 
reading,  the  labor  of  which  has  been  extensively  circulated 

206 


by  our  Executive  Committee  mostly  among  the  junior 
members  of  our  Association,  whose  performances  have 
been  satisfactory.  Light  conversation,  and  such  as  is  of 
evil  tendency,  has,  v^e  think  been  avoided.  Our  social 
meetings  have  been  refreshing  and  pleasant  and  we  may 
hope  have  had  a  tendency  to  increase  and  strengthen 
Christian  attachment  and  affection. 

We  now  adjourn  the  Association  to  meet  again,  if  such 
be  the  Divine  will  on  the  14th  of  the  Tenth  Month  next, 
at  the  home  of  Charles  F.  Coffin. 


207 


Index  to  Speeches  and  Addresses 

BY 

Charles  F.  Coffin 

Collected  in  Loose  Leaf  Ledger  form  and  deposited  at 
Earlham  College  Library 

An  address  to  Andrew  Johnson,  Pres't  of  the  United  States, 
by  Indiana  Yearly  Meeting  for  Sufferings — 6  mo.  1,  1865, 
prepared  by  a  Committee  of  which  C.  F.  Coffin  was 
Chairman. 

Letter  of  Fraternal  Greeting  from  Indiana  Yearly  Meeting 
to  Wesleyan  Methodist  connection  of  America,  1866 — 
signed,  C.  F.  Coffin,  Clerk,  Indiana  Yearly  Meeting. 

Our  Insane  Friends — An  interview  with  C.  F.  Coffin,  Jan. 
6,  1883. 

Mission  Work  by  Friends  and  its  Results. — An  address  be- 
fore the  Bedford  Institute  1st  Day  School  and  Home 
Mission  Ass'n. — London — 11th  Mo.  30 — 1888. 

Address  on  Indians  in  the  United  States,  delivered  by 
Chas.  F.  Coffin,  in  Devonshire  House,  London,  1890. 

Remarks  on  Tramps  and  our  County  Jails,  at  National 
Prison  Congress,  Saratoga,  N.  Y.,  1884. 

*'Our  Prisons" — An  address  delivered  by  Chas.  F.  Coffin, 
before  the  Indiana  Social  Service  Association  at  Indian- 
apolis, Ind.,— 6th  mo.  9th,  1880. 

A  Report  Concerning  A  Visit  to  St.  Vincent's  Reformatory 
for  Women,  at  Dublin,  Ireland,  Nov.  20,  1871. 

"Remarks"  at  the  Funeral  of  Abby  S.  Dennis — 1882. 

Christianity  and  Business — An  Address — delivered  by  Chas. 
F.  Coffin  at  Friends'  Fifth  Street  Meeting  House,  Rich- 
mond, Indiana,  March  21,  1875. 

How  Shall  the  State  find  Employment  for  Convicts? — Chi- 

208 


cago  Daily  News — Apl.  7,  1886.  Chas.  F.  Coffin,  Vice- 
Pres't  Prisons  Aid  Association  of  Illinois. 

''Sabbath  Schools" — Their  Organization  and  Management. 
Chas.  F.  Coffin— Time— 11— 1868. 

"Women  in  their  Business  and  Public  Relations"  by  Chas. 
F.  Coffin.    April  27,  1875. 

Three  Lectures  to  Young  Men,  delivered  at  Richmond,  In- 
diana, Friends'  Fifth  Street  Meeting  House,  by  Chas.  F. 
Coffin,  during  March,  1875.  'The  Model  Man,"  "For- 
saking the  Law  of  the  Lord,"  "Concerning  Bad  Habits." 

"Capital  Punishment,"  "The  Bible  Doctrine"— 1876— C.  F. 
Coffin. 

Capital  Punishment — A  Debate  thereon — By  Chas.  F.  Cof- 
fin—May 26,  1878. 

British  and  American  Prisons.  An  address  before  the  Na- 
tional Prison  Congress,  at  Pittsburgh,  Penn.  Oct.  14,  1891. 

The  Death  Penalty— Chas.  F.  Coffin— 1879. 


209 


C.  F.  Coffin    has   Prepared  the   Following   Reminis- 
cences, WHICH  HAVE  BEEN  DEPOSITED  IN 

Earlham  College  Library 

Origin  of  the  Mission  School  at  South  8th  St.,  Richmond, 
Indiana. 

Establishment  of  Iowa  Yearly  Meeting. 

Establishment  of  Western  Yearly  Meeting. 

Friends  and  the  Civil  War. 

Recollections  of  Henry  Clay's  Visit  to  Richmond,  in  1842. 

Whites  Institute — Establishment  of 

Josiah  White — Excerpts   from  his  will. 

Elijah  and  Naomi  Coffin  "An  Expression  of  Affection." 

Beginnings  of  Earlham  College. 

Friends  Boarding  School  at  Earlham. 

Origin  of  South  8th  Street  Meeting  at  Richmond,  Indiana. 

The  Old  National  Road  through  Wayne  County. 

Friends   in    Chicago — 1863 — The    beginnings    of    Chicago 
Monthly  Meeting. 

Wayne  Co.  Indiana,  1824  to  1833. 

Cincinnati,  Ohio,  1830  to  1834. 

Cincinnati,  O.,  Meeting  of  Friends,  1833. 

1st  Day  Schools  at  White  Water  1840  to  1862. 

Healing  of  Irena  Beard. 

List  of  the  Ministers  in  Indiana  Yearly  Meeting  in  1854. 

Attendance  at  Indiana  Yearly  Meeting  1878  to  1883. 

Notes  of  a  Sojourner — California  Notes  1892. 

Influence  of  Friends  upon  the  Development  of  Reformatory 
Work  in  Indiana. 

A  Visit  to  Philadelphia  Yearly  Meeting  in  1909. 

Biographical  Sketch  of  Elijah  and  Naomi  Coffin.    Written 
for  Centennial  of  White  Water  Monthly  Meeting. 

My  Early  Recollections  of  Henry  County,  Indiana.    Writ- 
ten for  Henry  Co.  Historical  Society — 1908. 

210 


From  North  Carolina  to  Indiana — 1823.  Comments  thereon 
by  Wm.  H.  Coffin  and  others. 

History  of  Indiana  Yearly  Meeting  and  of  White  Water 
Monthly  Meeting.   C.  F.  C. 

1st  settlement  of  Friends  in  Wayne  Co. 

The  Beginnings  of  White  Water  Monthly  Meeting. 

A  Census  of  Friends  in  Wayne  Co.,  Indiana,  1807. 

Letters  from  Jeremiah  Cox. 

Letters  from  Henry  and  David  Hoover. 

1st  Visit  to  Friends  in  the  Eastern  States.  By  Chas.  F.  Cof- 
fin, 1844. 

Presidents  I  Have  Known — by  Chas.  F.  Coffin. 


211 


Miscellaneous  Correspondence  had  by  Chas.  F.  Coffin 

WHICH  has  been  Deposited  in  Earlham  College 

Library,  under  Headings  as  Listed  Below. 

First  Jails  of  Wayne  Co. — by  John  B.  Julian.  Letters  from 
Geo.  W.  Julian. 

Shawnee  Indian  School — Committee  Report  186L  (2 
copies.) 

Newport,  Indiana,  and  its  Abolitionists,  by  Dr.  O.  N.  Huff. 

Concerning  Josiah  Forster  of  England.   C.  F.  C. 

First  Day  School  Conference  of  Friends  at  Cincinnati,  O., 
186L 

Home  for  the  Friendless  at  Richmond,  Ind.  1st  Anniver- 
sary and  appeal  for  help  1869.    R.  M.  Coffin. 

Genl.  U.  S.  Grant's  Indian  Policy.   R.  M.  Coffin. 

Isaac  Sharp  letters  to  C.  F.  and  R.  M.  Coffin.  Photo,  and 
and  account  of  his  death. 

Friends  China  Mission.  Some  account  of  1892  by  R.  J.  and 
M.  J.  Davidson. 

Louis  Street,  Missionary  to  Madagascar. 

Friends  Prominent  in  Indiana  Y.  M.— 1812  to  1828. 

Colonization  of  the  Epileptic  and  Insane — Gov.  Durbin,  Dr. 
Smith  and  T.  Nicholson. 

Thos.  Hodgkin  of  England    D,  1914  and  Photo. 

Census  of  Friends  and  Hicksites,  1835  Ind.  Yr.  Mtg. 

Woman's  Ministry,  by  Rhoda  M.  Coffin,  as  published  in  Chi- 
cago Inter  Ocean,  1885. 

Friends,  An  Historical  Study,  by  Wm.  H.  Coffin. 

Golden  Wedding  of  Sarah  and  Wm.  H.  Coffin. 

David  Tatum  ''Accounts  of  his  first  Missionary  Efforts." 

Wm.  H.  Coffin's  visit  to  Eastern  Indiana,  in  1898. 

Educational  Progress  of  Eastern  Indiana,  by  Berry  S.  Par- 
ker, and  Letter  thereon  from  C.  F.  Coffin. 

212 


Correspondence  with  J.  Bevan  and  Martha  Braithwaite. 
Correspondence  with  Elmina  L.  Johnson — Mrs.  Jno.  B.  B. 

Elam,  Susanna  Pray. 
Correspondence  with  Agnes  Fletcher  on  Care  of  the  Insane. 
Friendly  Letters  from  English  Friends.    1890-1907. 
Correspondence  with  Robert  P.  and  Hannah  W.  Smith. 


213 


C.  F.  Coffin  has  prepared  the  following  short 

Memoirs  of  Friends  and  Relatives  whom  he  has 

known,  and  the  same  have  been  deposited 

IN  Earlham  College  Library 

Samuel  Bettles,  1774  to  1861. 

Samuel  Bettles,  Jr.,  1868. 

Robert  Harrison. 

Lewis  A.  Estes. 

Wm.  Haughton. 

John  Maxwell 

Hugh  Maxwell 

Miriam  A.  Maxwell 

Thomas  and  Hannah  Symons. 

Jeremiah  Hubbard. 

Dr.  Oliver  W.  Nixon. 

Elizabeth  D.  Fletcher. 

Elizabeth  Hiatt— written  1862— revised  1908. 

Aaron  and  Margaret  White. 

David  Tatum. 

Elizabeth  Comstock. 

Bethuel  Coffin. 

Francis  W.  Thomas. 

Alfred  H.  Hiatt,  M.  D. 

Henry  W.  Coffin. 

Nathan  Rambo — Wm.  A.  Rambo — Edw.  B.  Rambo. 

Murray  Shipley. 

Naomi  Hiatt  Coffin,  a  Tribute  to  my  Mother.    C.  F.  C. 


214 


PEDIGREE 


PEDIGREE 

(1)  Peter  Coffyn  who  about  1560  married  Mary  Bos- 
cawen,  was  probably  the  great  grandfather  of  our  first 
Ancestor  who  came  to  America. 

(2)  Tristram  Coffyn,  of  Butler's  Parish,  of  Brixton, 
County  of  Devon,  England,  made  his  will  November  16, 
1601,  which  was  proved  at  Totness,  in  the  same  county, 
early  in  1602. 

(3)  He  left  legacies  to  Joan,  Anne  and  John,  children  of 
Nicholas  Cofifyn ;  Richard  and  Joan,  children  of  Lionel 
Coffyn,  Philip  Coffyn,  and  his  son  Tristram ;  and  appointed 
Nicholas,  son  of  Nicholas  Coffyn,  his  executor.  It  appears 
that  he  was  the  great-uncle  of  the  first  American  Ancestor. 

(4)  Nicholas  Coffyn,  of  Brixton,  Butler's  Parish,  in 
Devonshire,  in  his  will,  dated  September  12,  1613,  and 
proved  November  3,  1613,  mentions  his  wife  Joan,  and  sons 
Peter,  Nicholas,  Tristram,  John,  and  daughter  Anne.  He 
was  the  grandfather  of  the  emigrant  to  New  England,  and 
was  born  about  1560,  son  of  Mary  Boscawen.  He  lived  to 
the  end  of  the  reign  of  the  Tudors,  and  saw  the  reign  of 
the  Stuarts  beginning  in  the  person  of  James  VI  of  Scot- 
land and  James  1st  of  England.  He  died  in  the  reign  of 
James  1st  (1613).  His  eldest  son,  Peter,  succeeded  to  his 
estates,  and  his  youngest  son  John  also  acquired  some  es- 
tate, as  he  made  our  Ancestor  Tristram  his  executor.  The 
other  sons  Nicholas  and  Tristram  and  daughter  Anne  had 
probably  died. 

(5)  Peter  Coffyn,  the  eldest  son  of  Nicholas  of  Brixton, 
in  his  will  dated  December  1,  1627  and  proved  March  13, 
1628,  provides  that  his  wife  Joan  (Thember)  shall  have  pos- 

[iii] 


Charles  F.  Coffin 

session  of  the  land  during  her  life,  and  then  "the  said  prop- 
erty shall  go  to  his  son  and  heir,  Tristram,  who  is  to  be 
provided  for  according  to  his  degree  and  calling."  His 
son  John  is  to  have  certain  property  when  he  becomes 
twenty  years  of  age.  This  John  was  killed  at  Plymouth  fort 
in  the  early  part  of  the  civil  wars.  He  mentions  his  daugh- 
ters Joan,  Deborah,  Eunice  and  Mary,  and  refers  to  his  ten- 
ement in  Butler's  Parish,  called  Silferhay.  He  was  the 
father  of  our  Tristram  Coffin. 

John  Coffyn,  of  Brixton,  an  uncle  of  Tristram,  who  died 
without  issue,  in  his  will  dated  January  4,  1628  and  proved 
April  3,  1628,  appoints  his  nephew  Tristram  Coffyn  his  ex- 
ecutor, and  gives  legacies  to  all  of  Tristram's  sisters  under 
twelve  years  of  age. 

Tristram*  son  of  Peter  and  Joan  (Peter^  Nicholas- 
Peter^)  was  born  in  England  1609  and  died  in  Nantucket, 
Massachusetts,  October  2,  1681.  He  was  married  in  Eng- 
land to  Dionis,  daughter  of  Robt.  Stevens,  of  Brixton,  and 
came  to  Salisbury,  Massachusetts,  in  1642  with  five  children 
and  his  Mother.     His  children 

I.     Peter,  Hon.  b.  in  England  1631 ;  d.  in  Exeter,  N.  H.,  Mch. 

21,  1715. 
II.     Tristram  Jr.,  b.   in  England   1632;   d.   in  Newbury,   Feb.  4, 
1704. 

III.  Elisabeth,  b.  in  England;  m.  in  Newbury,  Mass.,  Nov.   13, 

1651,  Capt.  Stephen,  s.  of  Edmund  and  Sarah  Greenleaf; 
d.  Nov.  29,  1678.  Capt.  Stephen  was  b.  in  1630  and  d.  in 
1690.     They  had  seven  children. 

IV.  James,  b.  in  England,  Aug.  12,  1640;  lived  in  Nantucket;  d. 

there  July  28,  1720. 
V.    John,  b.  in  England;  died  in  Haverhill,  Mass.,  Oct.  30,  1642. 
VI.     Deborah,  b.  in  Haverhill,  Mass.,  Nov.  15,  1642;  d.  there  Dec. 

8,  1642. 
MI.     Mary,  b.  in  Haverhill,  Mass.,  Feb.  20,  1645;  m.  Nathaniel,  s. 
of  Edward  and  Catherine  Starbuck.   She  died  in  Nantucket, 
Sept.  13,  1717. 
VIII.     Lieut.  John,  b.  in  Haverhill,  Mass.,  Oct.  30,  1647;  d.  in  Ed- 
gartown,   1711. 

[iv] 


Pedigree 

IX.  Stephen,  b.  in  Newbury,  Mass.,  May  11,  1652;  d.  in  Nan- 
tucket, May  18,  1734. 
Tristram  Coffin  remained  but  a  short  time  in  Salisbury. 
We  find  his  name  recorded  in  Haverhill  ^Massachusetts, 
November  15,  1642,  as  witness  to  the  Indian  deed  of  that 
place,  granted  to  the  first  settlers  by  Sagabeu  and  Passaquai, 
sachems  of  Peutucket,  now  Haverhill.  About  1648  he  re- 
moved to  Newbury,  and  thence  back  to  Salisbury  in  1654 
or  1655,  where  he  signed  his  name  as  ''Tristram  Coffyn 
Commissioner  of  Salisbury."  In  1659  he  was  a  leading 
spirit  in  the  group  of  Salisbury  men  who  purchased  of 
Thomas  Mayhew  nineteen  twentieths  of  the  Island  of  Nan- 
tucket, whither  he  removed  in  1660  with  his  wife,  mother 
and  some  of  his  children,  and  where  he  died.  He  personally 
owned  the  Island  of  Tuckernuck. 

John''  (son  of  Tristram  and  Dionis)  Tristram*  Peter'' 
Nicholas-  Peter^  was  born  in  Haverhill,  Massachusetts,  Oc- 
tober 30,  1647,  removed  to  Nantucket,  afterwards  to  Mar- 
thas Vineyard,  and  died  in  Edgartown,  September  5,  1711. 
He  married  Deborah,  daughter  of  Joseph  and  Sarah  Austin, 
who  died  in  Nantucket,  February  4,  1718.    His  children 

I.     Lydia,  b.  in  Nantucket,  June  1,  1669;  m.  1st  John  or  Robt. 
Logan ;  2d  John  Draper ;  3d  Thomas  Thaxter,  of  Kingham. 
II.     Peter,  b.  in  N.  Aug.  5,  1671;  d.  in  N.  Aug.  27,  1749. 

III.  John,  Jr.,  b.  in  N.  Feb.  10,  1674 

IV.  Lane,  b.  in  N.  Apr.  23,  1676. 
V.     Enoch,   b.   in   Nantucket,   1678. 

VI.     Samuel,  b.  in  N.  d.  there  Feb.  22.  1764. 

VII.     Hannah,  b.  in  N.  d.  Jan.  28,  1768;  m.  Benj.,  s.  of  Rich,  and 
Mary    (Austin)    Gardner,  who  was  b.  in  N.   1683  and  d. 
there  Jan.  22,  1764. 
VIII.     Tristram,  b.  in  N.,  d.  Jan.  29,  1763. 
IX.     Deborah,  b.  in  N.  d.  there  Sept,  23,  1760;  m.  Thomas,  s.  of 
John    and    Deborah    (Gardner)    Macy,    who   was    born   in 
N.  about  1687  and  d.  there  Mch.  16,  1759. 
X.     Elizabeth,  b.  in  N. 

[v] 


Charles  F.  Coffin 

John^  was  commissioned  a  Lieutenant  of  Militia  at 
Nantucket  June  5,  1684  (see  Vol.  3,  4  of  English  Mss.  page 
21  New  York  State  Library).  This  entitles  his  direct  de- 
scendants to  admission  in  the  Society  of  Colonial  Wars  and 
Colonial  Dames. 

He  was  a  man  of  prominence  in  Marthas  Vineyard,  to 
which  he  removed.  Portions  of  his  old  residence  in  Ed- 
gartown  still  remain,  as  does  his  tombstone  showing  the  date 
of  his  death  1711.    (This  was  fully  restored  in  1883.) 

Samuel^  (son  of  John  and  Deborah)  John^  Tristram* 
Peter'  Nicholas"  Peter^  born  and  died  in  Nantucket;  mar- 
ried there  Miriam,  daughter  of  Rich,  and  Mary  Austin 
Gardner,  who  was  born  in  Nantucket  July  14,  1685,  and  died 
there  September  17,  1750.  Her  husband  died  there  Feb- 
ruary 22,  1764.   His  children 

I.     Deborah,  b.  in  N.  1708;  d,  there  1789;  m.  Oct.  1729,  Tristram, 
s.  of  Nath.  Jr.,  and   Dinah    (Coffin)    Starbuck,   who  was 
b.  in  N.  June  18,  1709,  and  d.  Nov.  28,  1789. 
II.    John,  b.  in  N.  1708;  d.  Sept.  17,  1750. 

III.  Parnell,  b.  in  N.  d.  there  Oct.  26,  1727;  m.  Robt.  Coffin. 

IV.  Sarah,  b.  in  N.  d.  Apr.  11,  1750;  m.  1st  Nov.  1,  1733,  Saml., 

s.  of  John  and  Elizabeth  Stanton;  2nd  James,  s.  of  Rich, 
and  Mary   (Coffin)    Pinkham,  who  was  born  in  N.   1707, 
and  d.  Nov.  5,  1792. 
V.     David,  b.  in  N.  1718,  d.  June  7,  1804. 

VL     William,  b.  in  N.  1720;  d.  in  N.  C,  1803;  m.  Priscilla  Pad- 
dock. 
VII.     Miriam,  b.  in  N.  1723;  m.  Sept.  1742  Richard,  s.  of  Shubail 
and  Abigail    (Bunker)    Pinkham,   who   was   b.   in   N.  Oct. 
16,  1718. 
Vni.     Mary,  b.  in  N.  1724;  d.  Sept.  1777;  m.  Oct.  1743  Wm.,  s.  of 
Ebenezer  and  Mary  Barnard,  who  was  born  in  N.   1724, 
and  d.  July  11,  1771. 
IX.     Libni,  b.  in  N.  d.  there  Nov.  6,  1732. 

X.     Priscilla,  b.  in  N.  1730;  d.  Feb.  2,  1801;  m.  Oct.  1748  Chris- 
topher, son  of  Solomon  and  Deliverance  Coleman. 


Pedigree 

Samuel'^  lived  and  died  in  Nantucket.  He  was  a  man  of 
wealth  and  prominence  and  was  the  first  of  his  branch  to 
join  the  Society  of  Friends  in  which  his  descendants  were 
active  members. 

William"  (son  of  Samuel  and  Miriam)  Samuel^  John^ 
Tristram*  Peter=^  Nicholas^  Peter^  Born  in  Nantucket  in 
1720.  He  was  married  November  8,  1740,  to  Priscilla  Pad- 
dock, daughter  of  Nathaniel  and  Ann  (Bunker),  who  was 
born' in  1722.  Both  died  in  North  Carolina  in  1803.  His 
children 

Deborah,  m.  Abel   Gardner,   s.  of  Abel  and  Priscilla;  b.  Mch.  31, 

1743;  (no  children  by  1st  marriage)  ;  also  married  Micajah  Towell 

in  N.  C.  First  marriage  in  Nantucket;  second  in  North  Carolina. 

Libni,  m.  Hepsabeth  Starbuck,  d.  of  Jos.  and  Ruth;  born  Oct.  7, 

1745;  m.  Jan.  1767. 
William,  m.  Esther  Hunt  Sept.,  1777;  b.  Sept.,  1747;  also  m.  Eliz- 
abeth Vestal,  of  N.  C. 
Levi,  m.  Prudence  Williams  of  N.  C. ;  b.  Oct.  10,  1763 ;  d.  Mch.  30, 

1833. 
Samuel,  m.  Mary  Duana  Carr,  d.  of  Jethro  and  Hepsabeth ;  b.  Dec. 

8,  1749;  m.  Nov.  29,  1770;  also  m.  Mary  Macy. 
Barnabas,  m.  Phebe  Marshall,  d.  of  Joseph  and  Phebe;  b.  Dec.  25, 

1751;  m.  Nov.  1772;  d.  Feb.  1816. 
Matthew,  m.  Hannah  Mendenhall,  d.  of  Jas.  of  Guilford;  b.  Feb.  13, 

1754;  m.  Jan.  1774;  also  m.  Hannah  Macy  (widow  of  Daniel). 
Bethu'el,  m.  Hannah  Dicks,  d.  of  Nathan  and  Mary  of  N.  C ;  b. 

Feb.  6,  1756;  m.  May  5,  1776;  d.  1837;  also  m.  Catherine  Macy. 
Abijah.  m.  Elizabeth  Robinson;  b.  May  22,  1760;  neither  lived  long. 
Priscilla,  m.  Asa  Hunt  (who  died  soon  after)  ;  b.  Oct.  21,  1765. 

William'  born  in  Nantucket  removed  to  Guilford 
County,  North  Carolina,  in  1773  was  a  man  of  prominence 
in  both'  Nantucket  and  North  Carolina  and  an  active  mem- 
ber of  the  Society  of  Friends. 

The  Battle  of  Guilford,  North  Carolina,  was  fought 
within  three  miles  of  William  Coffin's  house.  He  assisted 
in  burying  the  dead  and  nursing  the  wounded  in  the  New 
Garden  Friends  meeting  house,  which  was  used  as  a  hospital. 

[vii] 


Charles  F.  Coffin 

Bethuel^  (son  of  William  and  Priscilla)  William^ 
SamueP  John^  Tristram*  Peter^  Nicholas^  Peter\  Born  in 
Nantucket  February  6,  1756;  lived  in  Guilford  County, 
North  Carolina;  removed  to  Indiana;  married  May  5,  1776, 
Hannah  Dicks,  daughter  of  Nathan  and  Alary,  of  New  Gar- 
den, North  Carolina,  who  was  born  June  16,  1757;  died 
October  10,  1820;  he  died  in  Indiana  in  1837.  His  children 
Elisha,  m.  Maja  McCuistian;  b.  Nov.  27,  1779. 
Zachariah,    m.    Phebe    Starbuck,  d.  of  Wm.  and  Jane;   b.  Apr.  6, 

1782;  d.  Aug.  21,  1845. 
Paul,  m.  Elizabeth  W.  Moody;  b.  Mar.  23,  1784;  m.  1811;  d.  Jan.  20, 

1854. 
Rebecca,  m.  Robert  White;  b.  Feb.  27,  1786;  d.  Apr.  9.  1843. 
Hannah,  m.  Thos.  Symons;  b.  May  15,  1788;  m.   1811. 
Mary,  m.  Micah  Newby;  b.  Nov.  18,  1792. 
Bethuel,  b.  Aug.  20,  1795;  d.  July  2,  1799. 
Elijah,  m.  Naomi  Hiatt ;  b.  Nov.  17,  1789;  m.  Feb.  20,  1820;  d.  Jan. 

2Z,  1862. 

Bethuel  married  as  second  wife,  Catherine  Macy,  widow 
of  Thaddeus;  no  children. 

Bethuel^  removed  with  his  father  to  North  Carolina  in 
1773.  When  quite  young  he  made  two  voyages  in  his 
father's  whale  ship  and  worked  for  a  time  at  boat  building. 

In  1825  he  emigrated  to  Indiana,  died  1837  and  was 
buried  near  Greensborough,  Henry  County,  Indiana.  His 
grave  is  now  marked  by  a  suitable  tombstone. 

Elijah®  (son  of  Bethuel  and  Hannah)  BethueP  Will- 
iam' SamueP  John^  Tristram*  Peter^  Nicholas-  Peter^ 

Born  in  North  Carolina,  November  17,  1798;  married 
Naomi  Hiatt,  daughter  of  Benajah  and  Elizabeth,  February 
20,   1820;  died  Jan.  23,  1862.    His  children 

Miriam  Allinson,  m.  William  Rambo;  b.  Jan.  9,  1821;  m.  May 
31,  1843 ;  d.  Jan.  10,  1913 ;  also  m.  Hugh  Maxwell  (  no  children  by 
2nd  marriage)  Jan.  1,  1862. 

Charles  Fisher,  m.  Rhoda  M.  Johnson;  b.  April  3,  1823;  m.  Mch. 
25,  1847 ;  d.  Aug.  9,  1916. 

[viii] 


Pedigree 

William  Hiatt,  m.  Sarah  Wilson ;  b.  Sept.  26,  1825 ;  m.  Oct.  16,  1845 ; 

m.  Linda  T.  Mulford  June  16,  1903. 
Eliphalet,  b.  Aug.  25,  1828;  d.  May  5,  1831. 
Carolina  Elizabeth,  m.  Wm.  H.  Ladd;  b.  June  20,  1831;  m.  Aug.  24, 

1848;  d.  June  28,  1916. 
Mary,  m.  Eli  Johnson;  b.  July  15,  1834;  m.  March  31,  1852. 
Hannah  Amelia,  m.  M.  M.  White;  b.  Jan  16,  1838;  m.  Nov.  3,  1858. 

Elijah  Coffin  taught  school  in  North  Carolina  in  1817 
and  for  several  years  thereafter.  In  1818  crossed  the  moun- 
tains on  a  visit  to  Indiana.  In  1822  was  appointed  Clerk 
(presiding  officer)  of  North  Carolina  Yearly  Meeting  of 
Friends.  May  1823  with  Jeremiah  Hubbard  visited  Friends 
Meetings  in  Virginia,  Maryland,  Pennsylvania,  New  York 
and  New  England.  August  1824  emigrated  to  Indiana  and 
taught  school  at  Milton;  afterwards  engaged  in  merchan- 
dising. In  1827  was  appointed  clerk  (presiding  officer)  of 
Indiana  Yearly  Meeting  of  Friends  which  position  he  filled 
for  thirty-one  consecutive  years  to  and  including  1857  when 
he  was  succeeded  by  his  son  Charles  F.  who  filled  that  posi- 
tion for  twenty-seven  years  to  and  including  1884.  In  1833 
removed  to  Cincinnati,  Ohio.  In  1834  was  appointed  cashier 
of  the  branch  of  the  State  bank  at  Richmond,  Indiana,  in 
which  position  he  remained  until  his  retirement  from  ac- 
tive business  in  1859.  The  remainder  of  his  life  was  spent 
in  social  service  work  and  activities  connected  with  the  So- 
ciety of  Friends. 

Charles  F.^^  (son  of  EHjah  and  Naomi)  Elijah®  Beth- 
ueP  William"  Samuel®  John^  Tristram*  Peter^  Nicholas- 
Peter^  Was  born  April  3,  1823,  in  North  Carolina  and 
when  one  year  old  was  brought  by  his  parents  to  Indiana. 
March  25,  1847,  was  married  to  Rhoda  Moorman  Johnson, 
daughter  of  John  Johnson  VI  and  Judith  Faulkner,  who 
was  born  February  1,  1826,  and  died  September  29,  1909. 
He  died  August  9,  1916.    His  children 

Elijah,  m.  Sarah  Elma  Fletcher;  b.  May  3,  1848;  m.  July  5,  1869; 
d.  Aug.  28,  1917. 

[ix] 


Charles  F.  Coffin 

Charles  Henry,  m.  Flora  Howells ;  b.  Sept.  1,  1851;  m.  Dec.  10,  1873. 

d.  Nov.  5,  1921. 
Francis  Albion,  m.  Flora  Roberts;   (no  child);  b.  Oct.  10,  1853;  m. 

Sept.  15,  1875. 
William  Edward,  m.  Lydia  Mary  Roberts;  b.  Jan.  8,  1856;  m.  Sept. 

15,  1875. 
Mary  Amelia,  b.  Aug.  3,  1858;  d.  May  19,  1861. 
Percival  Brooks,  m.  Lucy  Vincent   Baxter;    b.   April  25,   1865;   m. 

Sept,   13,   1887;    (no  child). 

ELijAHii(son  of  Charles  F.  and  Rhoda  M.)  Charles  F.^^ 
Elijah^  BethueP  William^  Samuel«  John^  Tristram*  Peter^ 
Nicholas-  Peter ^ 

Born  May  3,  1848,  in  Richmond,  Indiana.  Married  July 
5,  1869,  to  Sarah  Elma  Fletcher,  who  was  born  July  13, 
1846.    He  died  August  28,  1917.    His  children 

Charles  Francis,  b.  Sept.  25,  1870. 
Elizabeth  F.,  b.  Feb.  22,  1879. 

Charles  Henry^^  (son  of  Chas.  F.  and  Rhoda  M.) 
Charles  F.^^  Elijah^  BethueP  William^  SamueP  John^  Tris- 
tram* Peter^  Nicholas-  Peter\ 

Born  September  1,  1851,  in  Richmond,  Indiana.  Mar- 
ried December  10,  1873,  to  Flora  Howells,  daughter  of  Jos- 
eph and  Ruth,  who  was  born  February  2,  1852,  and  who 
died  April  13,  1902.    He  died  Nov.  5,  1921.     His  children 

Julius  Howells,  b.  Apr.  29,  1875;  d.  Feb.  22,  1893. 

Rhoda  Howells,  m.  Walter  Sydney  Dexter;   b.  June   12,    1877;   m. 

June  17,   1916. 
Ruth  Howells,  m.  1st  Kreigh  Collins;  b.  Oct.  18,  1878;  m.  Mch.  21, 

1898;  m.  2d,  George  H.  Dunscombe,  Nov.  21,  1917. 
Murray  Shipley,  b.  Dec.  6,  1880;  d.  June  15,  1881. 
Charles  Howells,  m.  Irene  Parker;  b.  Feb.  23,  1882;  m.  Apr.  12,  1909. 
Flora  Howells,  b.  Nov.  21,  1885. 
Francis  Joseph  Howells,  m.  Annie  Coffin;  b.  Feb.  25,  1889;  m.  Sept. 

2,  1918. 
Virginia  Howells,  b.  Aug.   16,  1890;  d.  Mch.  28,  1891. 
Miriam  Howells,  b.  Mch  8,  1892;  d.  May  27,  1893. 

[X] 


Pedigree 

William  Edward^^  (son  of  Charles  F.  and  Rhoda) 
Charles^^  Elijah^  BethueP  William^  SamueP  John=^  Tris- 
tram* Peter''  Nicholas-  Peter \ 

Born  January  8,  1856,  in  Richmond,  Indiana.    ]\Iarried 
September  15,  1875,  to  Lydia  Mary  Roberts,  daughter  of 
John  and  Mary  A.  Roberts  (nee  Nye),  who  was  born  Oc- 
tober 3,  1855.     His  children 
Tristram  Roberts,  m.  Marion  Richards;  b.  Aug.  1,  1876;  m.  Oct.  22, 

1904;  m.  Elsie  Potter  Robinson. 
John  Roberts  m.  Mary  Belle  Hudson ;  b.  Aug.  27,  1881 ;  m.  April  27, 

1905. 
Ralston  Roberts,  b.  Dec.  31,  1882;  d.  Sept.  5,  1909.   Born  in  Indian- 
apolis, Indiana;  died  in  New  York  City. 

Tristram  Roberts^^  (son  of  William  and  Lydia  R.) 
William  Edward^i  Charles  F.^^  Elijah^  BethueP  William^ 
SamueP  John^  Tristram*  Peter^  Nicholas-  Peter^  Born  in 
Richmond,  Indiana,  August  1,  1876.    Married  October  22, 

1904,  to  Marion  Richards.    His  children 
Lydia  Constance,  b.  March  27,  1907. 
Tristram  Richards,  b.  Oct.  15,  1908. 

Second  marriage,   October   21,    1916,  to    Elsie    Potter 
Robinson.    His  children 
Trelsie  Potter  Robinson,  b.  April  5,  1918. 
Roberts  Robinson,  b.  Sept.  15,  1920;  d.  Sept.  15,  1920. 

John  Roberts^'  (son  of  William  Edward  and  Lydia  R.) 
William  Edward^^  Charles  F}^  Elijah^  Bethuel«  William^ 
Samuel  John-^  Tristram*  Peter^  Nicholas-  Peter^.  Born  in 
Richmond,   Indiana,   August  27,   1881.    Married  April   27, 

1905,  to  Mary  Belle  Hudson.   His  children 

Harriot  Hudson,  b.   Dec.  2,  1906. 
Ralston   Hudson,  b.   Nov.   16,   1908. 


[xi] 


